When in doubt, Hollywood knows precisely what to do: Put Robert De Niro in a mobster movie and watch the master work. And pretty much any mob film will do, any role even. And, then, you know what? He'll make that piece look slick and fresh and hilarious and devastating 'cause that's what the Robert De Niro does.
Exhibit A: This first trailer for his Parisian — cue the snails and striped shirts and guttural grunts — mafioso endeavor, "The Family."
Sure, there's the equally indomitable and still so gorgeous Michelle Pfeiffer in there, too, pulling out some duplicitous mob wife moves like no one else can (eat your heart out, Carmela Soprano), and the one and only Tommy Lee Jones is busy being some kinda wise-crackin' copper in the film too ... but at the heart of it, it's totally De Niro.
In Luc Besson's "The Family," his character is a made man, so to speak, until this unfortunate day comes.
Aye aye aye. Talk about an unwelcome surprise.
So, then it's a life on the run for his poor Giovanni Manzoni and his other family.
He, his wife and their kids (portrayed by Dianna Agron and John D'Leo) become the Blakes, an innocuous enough name ... until all their grocery store-burning and school bully a**-kicking antics synonymize it with trouble. Which is exactly why they keep getting shuffled around the globe to new hide-outs. Tsk tsk.
Shizz starts gettin' really real, though, when the bad guys come to call upon these would-be protected witnesses on their new home turf. Ruh-roh.
"The Family" hits theaters on Sept. 20.
