Hoo, boy, is The Family a piece of crap.

By way of background, Martin Scorcese is my favorite director. (He’s executive producer here. Directed by Luc Besson.) Robert DeNiro and Michelle Pfeiffer are two of my favorite actors. Tommy Lee Jones supports. I’m nuts for mob movies – Goodfellas, Casino, two of the Godfather movies, even Married to the Mob.

But this one is just a flippin’ mess.

It’s billed as a comedy, but it has its share of gratuitous violence. The plot features an American family of four on the run in Normandy (?!) because the dad (DeNiro) ratted out his former associates. Jones plays their FBI contact for the witness protection program.

The trouble is, Mom, Dad, Junior and Sis are all sociopaths who exact violent revenge for the slightest insult. At some level, for this to be “funny”, shouldn’t we want to identify with them? Shouldn’t they have some redeeming qualities?

Save your money.