Malavita (The Family)

Acclaimed director Luc Besson directs Robert De Niro & Michelle Pfieffer in their first movie together - sharing screen space that is (they have acted in the same movie twice before this - Stardust and New Year's Eve - but never shared screen space). The combination of these 3 names, who otherwise have nothing to prove, unfortunately falls a bit short of my expectations. But then, maybe my expectations were ill placed to begin with.

Malavita (aka The Family in the United States) is an Italian word that stands for gangland. In the context of the movie, it is the name of a gorgeous German Shepherd (or Alsatian as many would know it) that belongs to the Manzoni family. Or should I say the Blake family, now that they are under witness protection and have made their new home @ Normandy - a place that is not witnessed as much action since D Day.

The smarter ones reading this, would have figured out by now that "The Family" is of Italian descent and have something to do with the Mafia. And you would be correct. Giovanni Manzoni (Robert De Niro) is in WitProc for squealing on the gangsters that ran most of New York. Since then, the family - Maggie (Pfieffer), Belle (Dianna Agron) and Warren (John D’Leo) have been a nightmare to Agent Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones) The Family has left NY but they haven't left their gangsta ways to get what they want.

So every now and then, Giovanni will beat up a plumber or a mayor. Maggie may blow up super markets. Warren runs a mini mafia of his own in the school he gets admitted into. And the otherwise beautiful Belle gets her kicks out of kicking the daylights out of boys or girls who mess with her. These minor eccentricities kept aside, they all have hearts of gold and have problems like any other family would have. But it also means that the unnecessary attention gives enough to those gangsters who are after their blood.

Malavita is an entertaining but slow movie. Besson narrates the movie in a manner that best describes the French town of Normandy - languid. He doesn't seem in any hurry at all to move on with the story and allows it to run at its own pace. There are enough instances of excitement both through dialogue and action to keep you from looking away. In a nutshell, you will not really get bored at any time during the show. Of course DeNiro and Pfeiffer are fantastic and ensure that you are not deprived of quality acting.

Watch Malavita if you like slow movies with dry humour. If not, I recommend that you stay far away from the screens for this one because it will be reduced to an effective sleeping pill. Of course the fan boys will make a beeline for tickets but I hope I have managed to prep you for what's in store. A decent watch at the end of the day, but I wouldn't mind watching it at home instead of the screen. Of course the censor boards haven’t helped by blanking out all the “F” words.  6 on 10.

Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1330816537/?ref_=tt_ov_vi