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Life is tough in the Witness Protection Program. Life is pretty cushy, too, especially if you're the Manzoni family in Luc Besson 's " The Family ": you get to live in a quaint house in a tiny village in Normandy, you eat well, you have FBI guys stationed across the street 24/7, and you have a personal handler who makes sure that you and your loved ones are safe. The point of being in Normandy for the Manzonis is to somehow "pass" as regular Americans on holiday or sabbatical, and the Manzonis fail to manage this from the start, mainly because they are all raging maniacs. 

"The Family" is a pretty uneven film, lurching from comedy to violence to sentiment, but it's best when it sticks in the realm of flat-out farce. The pleasure comes in watching the actors ( Michelle Pfeiffer , in particular) submitting wholeheartedly to ridiculous situations. The film has a mix of influences and genres, obviously, and Besson plays with these and references them openly, but the farcical elements rest uneasily beside the violence, leaving the unmistakeable feeling that this is a film slightly at war with itself. 

When dealing with the family's adjustment (or lack thereof) to small-town French life, it is on sure (and often hilarious) footing. Giovanni Manzoni ( Robert De Niro ) snitched on his Mafia friends back in the States, and because of that there is now a $20 million price on his head. In exchange for his testimony, he and his family (wife and two teenage kids, Belle and Warren) are placed in the Witness Protection Program, under the control of FBI agent Robert Stansfield ( Tommy Lee Jones ). Maggie Manzoni (Pfeiffer) is already sick of the life in hiding, and has a tiny habit of blowing stuff up when she gets upset. Of course placing a well-known Mob boss into a tiny village in France doesn't seem like the best strategy for the FBI, because the witness will stick out even more there, but you really can't ask those questions when you watch "The Family." The answers will not hold up under interrogation.

The film opens with the family (Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dianna Agron , and John D’Leo) driving through the French countryside to yet another hideout since their cover was blown in the Riviera. The two kids loll bored in the back seat, Giovanni tries to tell everyone the new place will be fine, everything will be okay, the dog gets blamed for the bad smell in the car (when actually it is the stink of a dead corpse in the trunk, hidden there by Giovanni on his way out of Nice). This opening scene contains everything that is good and pleasurable about the film: watching Pfeiffer and De Niro act with one another, the weird juxtaposition of violence and everyday family matters, the family's anxiety at being in France when they'd rather be in Brooklyn. You are lulled into a false sense that you understand what is going on here—that the father, Giovanni Manzoni (Robert De Niro) is the "wise guy," and his family is just along for the ride. But the next couple of scenes explode that sense of safety (literally) as you realize that all of them, all four of them, are out of their minds.

Belle and Warren size up their new small-town school and promptly begin to wreak havoc among their peer group. In a matter of days, Warren has taken over 50% of the blackmarket cigarette business, as well as the prescription pill business, and when he is told by a teacher that his conduct has been poor, he says he wants a lawyer. On her first day, Belle accepts a ride home with four French guys who tell her they want to "practice their English," and when she realizes that maybe they want more from her, she beats one of the guys to a pulp with a tennis racket. Played by "Glee"'s Dianna Argon, Belle is a creepy character, gorgeous and innocent, but when she falls in love with her math tutor, you can't get the image of her smashing the tennis racket into another human being's face out of your mind. Meanwhile, Warren and Belle's parents are oblivious to what's happening in their children's lives. Giovanni thinks he might try his hand at a memoir, not a smart move for someone who is supposed to be in hiding. Maggie visits a local church, trying to re-connect to her faith.  Tommy Lee Jones shows up now and then to say it's hard to protect them if they insist on breaking the plumber's legs because he can't fix the pipes.

De Niro could play this role in his sleep, but he's fun to watch, especially in the scenes with Pfeiffer, and when his power is demeaned by his family's shenanigans. In one awesome sequence, the curator of a local film group calls up Giovanni and asks if he wouldn't come to their next meeting to have a nice debate on a great American film, Vincente Minnelli's "Some Came Running" (starring Frank Sinatra as an aspiring writer with a tormented past). Against the advice of Stansfield, Giovanni accepts. The head of the film society tells him they were sent " Goodfellas " by mistake, so maybe the visiting American would have something to say about that? Boy, does he ever. It's a giant wink to the audience, an inside joke, as we are treated to the bizarre vision of Robert De Niro as Giovanni Manzoni watching Robert De Niro as Jimmy in "Goodfellas."

Pfeiffer's performance is the reason to see the film, though. Calling back her show-stopping turn in " Married to the Mob ," her Maggie is both supportive and bored out of her mind, yearning towards her old Catholic faith but unrepentant about blowing stuff up. She cooks at the stove, her hair in gigantic curlers. She kneels in church, praying to Jesus with earnest eyes. Pfeiffer has been very good in dramatic material, but she might be a comedienne at heart. There's one scene near the end of "The Family" where events are coming to a boil, buildings are exploding, and she crawls across the floor as quickly as she can clutching a gigantic kitchen knife. Her eyes are manic, wild, and yet also focused, like an assassin's. 

Luc Besson has built a career on stylish and thrilling action films, and "The Family" is a mess compared to such earlier efforts as "Le Femme Nikita" and "Léon: The Professional." But for what it is, it works, while reminding us and again to not take it too seriously.

Sheila O'Malley

Sheila O'Malley received a BFA in Theatre from the University of Rhode Island and a Master's in Acting from the Actors Studio MFA Program. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Luc Besson's The Family suffers from an overly familiar setup and a number of jarring tonal shifts.

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The family: film review.

Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Tommy Lee Jones head the cast of this bloody Mafia comedy from veteran filmmakers Luc Besson and Martin Scorsese.

By Stephen Farber

Stephen Farber

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In making the Mafia comedy, The Family , Luc Besson and Martin Scorsese seem to have set out to have some fun with their more typical hard-boiled gangster fare. Their inside jape is unfortunately not as much fun for the audience as it may have been for the filmmakers, though it does have its piquant moments. But it’s not consistently entertaining enough either as a spoof or as a thriller to soar to box office glory.

Besson directed and co-wrote the screenplay, and Scorsese acted as executive producer, and it’s easy to see references to The Professional and Goodfellas . Actually, Goodfellas is mentioned overtly in an amusing scene where Robert De Niro ’s gangster-in-hiding in a village in Normandy is invited to address the local film club on Vincente Minnelli ’s Some Came Running .  But the wrong film arrives, and he has to pontificate on Goodfellas instead.  Needless to say, he relishes the task.

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De Niro plays an aging version of characters he created in Goodfellas and Casino . This time he is Giovanni Manzoni, an ex-Mafioso who decided to spill the beans on all his criminal connections. The FBI has put him and his family in a witness protection program and sent them to France. There they are ordered to lead a quiet life and not call attention to themselves. But they can’t quite leave their violent ways behind them. Giovanni, now known as Fred Blake, is not used to arguing politely with unaccommodating French plumbers and businessmen. The same is true of his wife Maggie ( Michelle Pfeiffer ), teenage daughter Belle ( Dianna Agron ) and son Warren ( John D’Leo ). This gang is like the Soprano family abroad, and the humor comes from their impatience at trying to behave like a meek brood of American tourists.

The best scene aside from the Goodfellas dissertation is one that has already been showcased in the movie’s trailer—a shopping expedition that ends with Maggie blowing up the store in response to the arrogance of the snooty French merchants. Belle and Warren prove to be just as deadly to their antagonists at the local lycee.

While the family is adjusting uneasily to their new digs in France, imprisoned gangsters back home are trying to locate the snitching family and wipe them out. So there’s a chase element added to the fish-out-of-water comedy. These tones never really mesh successfully.  he violence is excessive for a film that’s essentially conceived as a comedy, and although the final gun battle between the family and their enemies is well executed, it seems to come from a different, far more conventional movie.

The actors intermittently salvage the picture. De Niro has played straight gangster roles and comic gangster roles, so this part isn’t exactly a stretch, and at times his weariness is visible. But he has fun in scenes where Giovanni decides that he has a new career as a memoirist. The best reason to see the film is to catch Pfeiffer in a rare leading role. She looks great, and although her Brooklyn accent occasionally vanishes, she gives a stylish and funny performance reminiscent of her fine work in Married to the Mob 25 years ago.  Agron, best known as the head cheerleader on Glee , matches up well with Pfeiffer and savors a rare opportunity to play the bad girl. D’Leo also demonstrates commendable comic chops as the kid brother.  One scene in which he discusses how many nuances Dad can give to the F-word is a choice bit.

Tommy Lee Jones brings his considerable presence to the role of the FBI agent watching over the family, but there’s only so much a fine actor can do with such an underwritten role.  Most of the supporting players don’t register vividly either.

Besson does a good job capturing the stultifying ambience of a nondescript French village that is a long way from the picturesque towns featured in Michelin guidebooks.  All technical credits are solid.  Unfortunately, when the blood starts to flow, as it does all too frequently, the laughs curdle.

Opens:  Friday, Sept. 13 (Relativity Media).

Cast:  Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tommy Lee Jones, Dianna Agron, John D’Leo, Jimmy Palumbo, Domenick Lombardozzi.

Director: Luc Besson.

Screenwriters:  Luc Besson, Michael Caleo.

Based on the novel by: Tonino Benacquista.

Producers:  Virginie Besson-Silla, Ryan Kavanaugh.

Executive producers:  Martin Scorsese, Tucker Tooley.

Director of photography: Thierry Arbogast.

Production designer:  Hugues Tissandier.

Music:  Evgueni Galperine, Sacha Galperine.

Costume designer: Olivier Beriot.

Editor: Julien Rey.

Rated R, 111 minutes. 

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The Family Review

Did you hear about the manzonis.

While we've seen the witness relocation/fish out of water scenario played out onscreen before, The Family puts a charming, darkly funny spin on it thanks to director Luc Besson and his great cast.

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Film Review: ‘The Family’

Curiously airless, weightless and tonally uncertain, Luc Besson's mafia comedy falls flat.

By Andrew Barker

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When properly applied, bad taste can have a wonderfully liberating, palliative effect, and contemporary French cinema has produced few more discerning mainstream vulgarians than Luc Besson . But without any sense of joy in transgression, or real humor behind all the bloody irony, his mafia comedy “The Family ” falls flat. Curiously airless, weightless and tonally uncertain, the pic mixes mass murder, dismemberment and rape threats with sappy sentimentality, fish-out-of-water gags and groan-worthy meta-humor, yet very little of it manages to leave any impression. Worth seeing only to catch cast standout Michelle Pfeiffer recapture hints of the knives-out nastiness of her “ Scarface ” and “Married to the Mob” roles, this Relativity release nonetheless ought to do decent business.

It isn’t that “ The Family ” doesn’t have any good ideas. In fact, it might have too many. Picking up with a mafia family as they arrive at a creaky house in Normandy — the latest of many witness-relocation destinations for Brooklyn wiseguy-turned- snitch Giovanni Manzoni ( Robert De Niro ) — Besson would seem to have a full palette with which to paint. Watching Giovanni employ leg-breaking tactics to negotiate buck-passing French bureaucracy theoretically ought to resonate with disgruntled expats and Francophobes. (And in surer hands, De Niro’s role as a domesticated heavy still very much in touch with his sociopathic tendencies could have been a sly upending of his “Analyze This” and “Meet the Parents” parts.) Then there’s his 17-year-old daughter, Belle ( Dianna Agron ), whose sudden shifts from moony high-school romanticism to brutal violence would seem to have plenty of potential. And the Cosa Nostra strategies 14-year-old Warren (John D’Leo) uses to negotiate lycee politics could have perhaps made for a whole film on their own.

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None of these are the most original of conceits (and the script never bothers to complicate or question any of its dunderheaded-Americans/effete-Frenchmen stereotypes), though they ought to at least be expected to provide decent distraction from the central plotline pitting Giovanni against a tireless would-be assassin (Jimmy Palumbo). But the film never seems aware it can follow any of these paths to interesting destinations, instead simply tossing a handful of one-joke sketches into a narrative Cuisinart and serving the resulting puree raw.

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Always an efficient orchestrator of balls-out ultraviolence, Besson has never quite grasped the rhythms of English-language comedy, and his earlier English pictures, like “The Fifth Element,” largely succeeded through megalomaniacal moxie alone. “The Family” showcases a slower, quieter strain of Besson’s signature style, yet it’s scarcely any smarter, and even its better comedic ideas wind up diluted by overly orchestrated setups or fumbled payoffs.

There’s no guilty glee in the sight of mob mother Maggie (Pfeiffer) blowing up a grocery store whose proprietor dares scoff at her peanut-butter fixation, and the explanation for an early scene in which the supposedly undercover family throws a barbecue for the entire town seems to have been left on the cutting-room floor. (The less said about the Martin Scorsese reference, the better.) For a film set in Normandy from a French writer-director (Besson and Michael Caleo adapted the script from Tonino Benacquista’s novel), it never even feels particularly French: Having every character onscreen speak perfect English is obviously a commercial necessity, yet it’s scarcely acknowledged that this is not the town’s native language.

These minor quibbles aside, “The Family” is technically well made, and Besson is still capable of staging horrifying murders and torture scenes in a uniquely casual, matter-of-fact way. A characteristically sharp Pfeiffer provides most of the pic’s genuine laughs and nearest attempts at actual empathy, and it must be said that De Niro is at least never caught sleepwalking. Tommy Lee Jones, however, seems entirely disengaged in his scenes as Giovanni’s FBI handler.

Reviewed at the Landmark, Los Angeles, Sept. 11, 2013. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 111 MIN.

• Production: A Relativity Media release of a Relativity and EuropaCorp presentation of a Relativity, EuropaCorp, TF1 Films, Grive Prods. production. Produced by Virginie Besson-Silla, Ryan Kavanaugh. Executive producers, Martin Scorsese, Tucker Tooley. Co-executive producers, Ron Burkle, Jason Colbeck.
• Crew: Directed by Luc Besson. Screenplay, Besson, Michael Caleo, from the novel “Malavita” by Tonino Benacquista. Camera (color), Thierry Arbogast; editor, Julien Rey; music, Evgueni Galperine, Sacha Galperine; production designer, Hugues Tissandier; costume designer, Olivier Beriot; art directors, Gilles Boillot, Eric Dean, Dominique Moisan, Stephane Robuchon, Thierry Zemmour; sound (Dolby Digital/SDDS/Datasat), Didier Lozahic, Ken Yasumoto; re-recording mixer, Matthieu Dallaporta; assistant director; Ludovic Bernanrd; casting, Nathalie Cheron, Amanda Mackey Johnson.
• With: Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dianna Agron, John D’Leo, Tommy Lee Jones, Jimmy Palumbo, Domenick Lombardozzi.

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Salem's lot first images reveal delayed stephen king movie remake, which star wars force power would be your speciality based on your zodiac sign, there are certainly worse ways to spend two hours at the theater than by watching de niro play an old mobster in a self-reflexive action/comedy..

The Family revolves around the Manzonis, a notorious Mafia family that's been hiding out in and around France ever since the patriarch Giovanni (Robert De Niro) ratted out his fellow mobsters to the Feds. Giovanni and his wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer), daughter Belle (Dianna Agron) and son Warren (John D'Leo) have been a constant thorn in the side of Witness Protection Program agent Robert Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones) for the past ten years, since their habitual psychotic behavior is constantly blowing the U.S. government's covert operation.

Giovanni, now passing himself off as American Fred Blake, relocates with his family to the sleepy town of Normandy, where at first it seems as though the (former?) criminals will be able to settle down quietly and keep a low profile. However, as the saying goes, old habits die hard and soon enough all of the Manzonis start getting themselves into trouble - the kind that, sooner or later, is bound to earn unwanted attention from the hitmen looking to collect the bounty on Giovanni's head.

Filmmaker Luc Besson - director of La Femme Nikita and  Léon: The Professional and co-writer/producer on the Transporter and Taken  movies - is well established for the way he celebrates, yet also comments upon American crime/action genre tropes in his scripts - and The Family keeps with that tradition. Besson directed this project in addition to co-writing the adapted screenplay (drawing from Tonino Benacquista's novel,  Malavita ), so the final movie product offers a more even blending of dark satire, social commentary, off-beat humor, moral substance and quirky aesthetics than some of the other films released under Besson's EuroCorp banner over the past decade.

On the surface, the tagline for Benacquista's source novel - "Imagine The Sopranos transplanted to the French countryside" - seems to be applicable to The Family , yet Besson's approach harkens back to the French New Wave, in the way his film riffs on and deconstructs the "Mobsters in suburbia" premise by shifting the action to the European countryside. The Family isn't Besson's strongest work, but he and co-writer Michael Caleo - who knows a thing or two about re-examining the gangster anti-hero myth after having worked as a story editor on The Sopranos - are successful in making a movie that's fun to watch and yet has something to say about the way that Hollywood glamorizes the mobster lifestyle.

The first two acts in Besson and Caleo's script revolve around the daily exploits of the Manzoni clan, before the narrative picks up speed and things come to a head in the third act. Story-wise, the film is most interesting when examining such issues as Europeans' obsession with American pop culture (another callback to the French New Wave), in addition to using dark humor to explore how a pure-blooded Mafia family might really act. However, although the third act is solid, it's not as sharp or biting as it had the potential to be in the way it comments on gangster movie tropes (beginning with an enormous plot coincidence that is not quite as self-aware as it might've been).

On a related note, there's also a fair amount of self-reflexive material in the film, whether it's the casting of mobster genre king De Niro and Pfeiffer - who portrayed a gangster wife in Married to the Mob  and/or Scarface  - or the way that elements from the cinema of Martin Scorsese (an executive producer on The Family ) are referenced using a wry, but often sledgehammer manner. The best meta-jokes are also the most subtle ones - but even the on-the-nose shout-outs are forgivable, partly because the way they are handled often makes The Family feel more akin to a sly criticism than a love letter to Scorsese (and the latter's involvement with this movie suggests that he might even be okay with that).

De Niro and Pfeiffer are, likewise, good sports when it comes to how they riff on their screen legacies in The Family , while at the same time fleshing out their own characters so that they feel three-dimensional enough (within the context of the film's universe). Similarly, Agron often seems to be having the most fun, while she riffs on her ordinary American teen image from  Glee and movies like I Am Number Four ; that holds true to a lesser extent with D'Leo, who plays the brilliant yet delinquent son in the story.

Jones plays his usual no-nonsense curmudgeon role here, but he at least seems to be comfortable with being in this movie (unlike some of his recent blockbuster appearances). Meanwhile, the supporting cast includes Jimmy Palumbo ( Man on a Ledge ), Domenick Lombardozzi ( The Wire ), Stan Carp ( Magic City ) and Vincent Pastore ( The Sopranos ) - all of whom get a moment or two to shine while playing variations on their well-worn cop/criminal personas, in keeping with the meta nature of The Family .

The Family doesn't represent Besson at his best, but here the filmmaker once again proves that he is a storyteller who knows how to produce European pop-art cinema that is far more delightful (and, in many ways, more intelligent) than you might expect, based on the film's sitcom-style description. There are certainly worse ways to spend two hours at the theater than by watching De Niro play an old Mobster in a self-reflexive action/comedy (emphasis on the comedy) made by an eccentric French autuer.

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After ratting out his Mafia cohorts, Giovanni Manzoni and his family enter the Witness Protection Program and relocate to a sleepy town in France. Despite the best efforts of their handler to keep them in line, Giovanni (now called Fred Blake), his wife and children can't help but resort to doing things the "family" way. However, their dependence on such old habits places everyone in danger from vengeful mobsters.

Where does The Family rank today? The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

The Family is 1061 on the JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts today. The movie has moved up the charts by 367 places since yesterday. In the United States, it is currently more popular than Ticket to Paradise but less popular than Seoul Station.

Streaming charts last updated: 5:12:07 AM, 08/21/2024

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My penguin friend.

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• Parents Say 1 Review
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Common Sense Media Review

Drama about unlikely birds of a feather has grief, peril.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that My Penguin Friend is a sweet drama based on the true story of a South American penguin who befriends a lonely, grieving Brazilian man (Spanish actor Jean Reno). There's very little iffy content overall, though (spoiler alert) a child's tragic death in a boating accident early in the…

Why Age 8+?

(Potential spoiler alert!) There's a boating accident early in the movie in whic

Any Positive Content?

Animals of all sorts can provide therapeutic connection and companionship for hu

Joao acts out of compassion when he sees an injured bird in the ocean, rescuing

South American penguins' migration, nesting, instinctual navigation abilities, a

This fact-based story set in Brazil and Argentina has a Brazilian director, as w

Violence & Scariness

(Potential spoiler alert !) There's a boating accident early in the movie in which a father frantically tries to find his son (whom many viewers may have come to adore) -- the boy's death is shown via the outline of his lifeless body quietly sinking into the ocean. Penguin DinDim is perilously injured to the point of being unconscious on more than one occasion, one time with blood-stained scrapes. Close-ups of dead fish being gutted. Sadness/grief and some tension.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Animals of all sorts can provide therapeutic connection and companionship for humans that can be healing. Strong themes of compassion and curiosity.

Positive Role Models

Joao acts out of compassion when he sees an injured bird in the ocean, rescuing it and nursing it back to health. While his wife is irritated by the disruptive bird, she allows it in her home as an act of love for her husband. While tragedy has made Joao estranged from the fishing community he was once a vibrant part of, they make it clear that they're always there for him -- and when he asks for their help, they immediately give it. Marine life researchers have jobs that kids may see as aspirational but make a selfish decision at one point that puts DinDim in danger.

Educational Value

South American penguins' migration, nesting, instinctual navigation abilities, and mating habits are discussed and observed. DinDim's story reveals the penguin's ability to adapt to different surroundings. It's explained that a penguin creating and maintaining a connection with a human is so rare that university researchers want to study DinDim.

Diverse Representations

This fact-based story set in Brazil and Argentina has a Brazilian director, as well as many Argentinian and Brazilian characters played by Argentinian and Brazilian actors -- though the two leads are of Spanish and Mexican descent. Both writers are female. Main characters are in their 70s.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Parents need to know that My Penguin Friend is a sweet drama based on the true story of a South American penguin who befriends a lonely, grieving Brazilian man (Spanish actor Jean Reno ). There's very little iffy content overall, though ( spoiler alert ) a child's tragic death in a boating accident early in the film may be upsetting for some viewers, and there are scenes of peril involving penguin DinDim, who gets lost, injured, and knocked unconscious but always ends up OK. The story has strong themes of compassion and curiosity, and kids will likely be birdstruck by the idea of having an adorable waddler as a companion. Kids may also learn that penguins don't just live in Arctic climates and that they migrate to the same summer and winter nests ever year. And what's a revelation to everyone -- including the marine biologists tracking the penguin's habits in the movie -- is that a penguin would bond with a human with such commitment. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (1)

Based on 1 parent review

Drama, not a light hearted film

What's the story.

In MY PENGUIN FRIEND, Brazilian fisherman João ( Jean Reno ) is unable to move forward decades after ( spoiler alert ) the tragic death of his son. When he spots an injured penguin in the ocean, he rescues it and nurses it back to health, then releases it back into the wild. He's surprised when the penguin -- whom he's dubbed DinDim -- returns to him year after year.

Is It Any Good?

Wild-animal-companion dreams are given wings in this touching true story of the unusual friendship between a man and a penguin. While it's slower and has fewer wacky antics than movies like Mr. Popper's Penguins or Penguins of Madagascar , My Penguin Friend still scoots along faster than March of the Penguins . But -- like the Magellanic penguins themselves -- it also never fully takes flight. It keeps the story grounded in reality, but at times that makes it feel a bit like sitting at the zoo in front of an enclosure that contains a sleeping animal. It's something to see, but it's not as exciting as you might have hoped.

Kids really enjoy films where they see other kids interacting with animals (think Dolphin Tale ), and João's 7-year-old family friend Lucia (Duda Galvão) takes that role here, but she doesn't have enough screen time to be a true kid stand-in. To compensate, director David Schurmann uses a different device: He offers viewers a bird's-eye point-of view, showing us what DinDim sees. This helps convey DinDim's feelings, like bewilderment and contentment, which lets kids think less about what it's like to have a penguin for a pet and more about what it's like to be a penguin. Viewers are reminded frequently that DinDim comes and goes as he pleases, underlining the movie's position that wild animals shouldn't be kept in captivity for any reason, including for research. Kids who strongly prefer animated movies might be restless, but even if they're a little bored at times, this sweet drama is ultimately an imagination starter.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how animals can provide therapy and healing to humans. How does DinDim help João accept the loss of his son and move on in My Penguin Friend ?

What did you learn about penguins from My Penguin Friend? Did you feel you gained insight by seeing the world through DinDim's eyes?

How are compassion and curiosity demonstrated, and by which characters? Why are these important character strengths? Would you say Adriana has integrity ?

What do you think about marine biologist Adriana's decision to take DinDim to the university? Did you think her decision to let DinDim escape and adapt to his displaced surroundings was responsible? What would you have done in both situations?

What movies about the human-animal relationship are your favorites? How does this one compare?

Movie Details

• In theaters : August 16, 2024
• Cast : Jean Reno , Adriana Barraza , Rochi Hernández
• Director : David Schurmann
• Inclusion Information : South American directors, Female actors, Latino actors, Female writers
• Studio : Roadside Attractions
• Genre : Family and Kids
• Topics : Friendship , Ocean Creatures , Science and Nature , Wild Animals
• Character Strengths : Compassion , Curiosity
• Run time : 97 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG
• MPAA explanation : thematic content
• Last updated : August 13, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story

My Octopus Teacher

Mr. Popper's Penguins

Penguin Bloom

March of the Penguins

Surf's Up

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘UNTOLD: The Murder of Air McNair’ on Netflix, A Look Back at the Shocking Shooting Death of the Tennessee Titans Legend

Where to stream:.

• Untold: The Murder of Air McNair

Scott Peterson Confesses Regret For Cheating On Laci Peterson Before Her Disappearance In Jailhouse Interview: “I Feel So Much Shame”

Stream it or skip it: ‘chimp crazy’ on hbo, a docuseries about people who keep chimpanzees as pets, highlighting one who fights to keep hers, stream it or skip it: ‘american murder: laci peterson’ on netflix, a docu-series that shows how scott peterson went from man in mourning to convicted murderer, stream it or skip it: ‘unsolved mysteries’ vol. 4 on netflix, where the legacy docuseries tackles more intrigue from the annals of true crime .

Steve McNair was a star. First at Alcorn State, then in a Pro Bowl career for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, the quarterback become a beloved figure in Nashville and beyond. Then, on July 4th, 2009, he was found shot dead. UNTOLD: The Murder of Air McNair , the latest installment in Netflix’s sports documentary imprint, explores what happened.

UNTOLD: THE MURDER OF AIR MCNAIR : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: The Murder of Air McNair is a pretty straightforward true-crime documentary, with a vein of sports doc running through it — we learn about Steve McNair’s football career, but the bulk of the runtime is dedicated to his murder and the investigation that ensued. Archival news and game footage is paired with interviews with McNair’s football contemporaries as well as reporters and police who worked to unpack his death.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Netflix’s UNTOLD series is in its fourth run of standalone sports documentaries, and it’s focused on some weighty topics, but none as serious as a murder-suicide. The Murder of Air McNair is closer to cable-TV true-crime documentaries than 30 For 30s .

Performance Worth Watching: Many of the important figures in McNair’s life and career make appearances here, including longtime friend and Alcorn State teammate Robert Gaddy, one of the first people to see McNair after he died. Some of the most emotional testimony comes from his Titans coach, Jeff Fisher, who still breaks up speaking about his player and friend.

Memorable Dialogue: “It was all about timing,” Jeff Fisher reflects on Steve McNair’s career meshing with his rising team’s needs. “With the exception of the ending, it couldn’t have worked out any better,” he adds sadly.

Sex and Skin: None, although there are implications about the sexual nature of McNair and Kazemi’s relationship.

Our Take: Steve McNair was a beloved football player, and Steve McNair was murdered. That’s the top-line summary of the story behind UNTOLD: The Murder of Air McNair , and it’s certainly a tragic one. Is the story any more complex than that, though?

This documentary plays out largely like other true-crime documentaries, or perhaps an episode of Dateline . Two threads converge: a happy life and a sad ending. The facts behind the latter are widely known: on July 4th, 2009, McNair was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds, alongside the body of his girlfriend, 20-year old Sahel “Jenni” Kazemi. An investigation was launched, and various suspects were considered—among them a longtime friend and business associate of McNair’s, and the jealous ex-boyfriend of Kazemi. In the end, though, the conclusion was a murder-suicide committed by Kazemi.

Due coverage is given to the crime and its investigation: we see footage of various police interviews, including with Robert Gaddy, the business associate, Wayne Neely, another friend of McNair’s, and Keith Norfleet, the ex-boyfriend. We also hear audio recordings of interviews police conducted with Kazemi’s coworkers and friends, one that shed light on the nature of their relationship. These various pieces are placed into a coherent narrative largely through the efforts of reporter Amy Viteri, who worked at the time for WKRN News in Nashville and covered the story as it unfolded.

This true-crime story somewhat awkwardly meshes with a retrospective of McNair’s career, including his drafting by the then-Houston Oilers and his role in the “Music City Miracle” playoff win against the Buffalo Bills in 2000, a thrilling step on the way to a heartbreaking, one-yard-short last-second loss in Super Bowl XXXIV to the “Greatest Show on Turf” St. Louis Rams.

It’s nearly the end of the hour-long documentary when an alternate theory to McNair’s death is aired by private investigator Vincent Hill, who suggests that the murder might have been committed by Adrian Gilliam, a former lover of Kazemi’s, and that it might’ve been connected to a financial disagreement between McNair and Gaddy. Gaddy, for his part, is clearly enraged by the suggestion. “What Vincent Hill did and is doing is totally disgusting.” Fisher, clearly uncomfortable with the discussion, is more circumspect. “I can make a case that things don’t add up. I can make a case that, well, boy, that could be a possibility as well. I don’t know. I don’t want to speculate.”

It’s hard not to feel like this would-be curveball comes in so late because there’s really not much to the theory, and it feels like an attempt to inject ambiguity into a story that doesn’t really have much. If it had weight behind it, it could be the meat of the documentary–instead, it feels like a disrespectful footnote. Either way, it doesn’t change the tragedy of what happened.

Our Call: SKIP IT. The Murder of Air McNair is a straightforward telling of an undeniably tragic story, but ultimately that story simply doesn’t have enough to make it a compelling watch.

Scott Hines, publisher of the widely-beloved Action Cookbook Newsletter ,  is an architect, blogger and proficient internet user based in Louisville, Kentucky.

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A Real Pain

Mismatched cousins David and Benji reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the odd-couple's old tensions resurface against the b... Read all Mismatched cousins David and Benji reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the odd-couple's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history. Mismatched cousins David and Benji reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the odd-couple's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.

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Benji Kaplan : This, people, is what fucking film making is about.

• Connections Referenced in Amanda the Jedi Show: The BEST and Weirdest Movies you (mostly) Haven't Seen Yet | Love Lies Bleeding (2024)

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• November 1, 2024 (United States)
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The week’s best movies in L.A.: Shelley Duvall, ‘La Bamba’ in 4K and more

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Hello! I’m Mark Olsen . Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

Gena Rowlands died Wednesday at age 94, following her family’s announcement earlier this year that she was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. To simply call Rowlands an actor doesn’t quite communicate the impact of her career. The movies she collaborated on with husband John Cassavetes helped pave the way for independent film as we know it today, both in the way they were made and distributed and in the fight for creative freedom they represented.

In films such as “Faces, “A Woman Under the Influence,” “Minnie and Moskowitz,” “Gloria,” “Opening Night,” “Love Streams” and many others (including, yes, “The Notebook,” directed by her son Nick Cassavetes), Rowlands’ performances had a soulful power that combined a sense of naturalism with a bracing, adventurous theatricality. Simply put, her characters seemed alive in ways that one rarely sees onscreen.

Rowlands was a two-time Oscar nominee and three-time Primetime Emmy winner. Accepting an honorary Academy Award in 2015, Rowlands said, “What’s great about being an actress is you don’t just live one life, you live many lives. You are not just stuck with yourself all of your life.”

The outpouring of affection online for Rowlands was immediate, speaking to the esteem and reverence with which she was held by generations of actors, including Laura Dern, Aubrey Plaza, Kirsten Dunst, Rebecca Hall, Chloë Sevigny and Taylour Paige, along with filmmakers including Jim Jarmusch, who directed Rowlands in “Night on Earth,” Allison Anders, Sofia Coppola and Justine Triet.

Shelley Duvall’s certain something

The American Cinematheque has launched a tribute series to actor Shelley Duvall , who died in July at age 75 but whose unique screen presence lives on. The series will underscore Duvall’s ongoing collaboration with filmmaker Robert Altman, who discovered Duvall before casting her in her debut in 1970’s “Brewster McCloud.” The series began with Altman’s 1974 “Thieves Like Us” and will also include 1975’s “Nashville,” 1977’s “3 Women,” for which Duvall won best actress at the Cannes Film Festival, and 1980’s “Popeye.”

In his Times review of “Brewster McCloud,” Charles Champlin described Duvall as “an ingenuously funny wide-eyed big-toothed enjoyment.”

Of “Popeye,” Champlin wrote, “Its difficulties arise not from a lack of ambition but from excesses of them. The result is a film that is rarely uninteresting but seldom entirely satisfying, except when young Wesley [Ivan Hunt as Swee’pea] is beaming his radiant innocence or when Shelley Duvall is being Olive Oyl to absolute high-voiced perfection.” Elsewhere, Champlin added, “Highest praise to Shelley Duvall for her deliciously addled, uncoordinated, petulant but finally quite endearing Olive Oyl. She is exactly the transition from newsprint to film that the whole picture had in mind.”

At the time of a May 1979 Times profile, Duvall had been announced for the role in “Popeye” but filming had not yet begun — amid rumors that the part might be taken over by Gilda Radner or Lily Tomlin. Writer Roderick Mann declared Duvall “the actress with the Modigliani face and the thermometer figure” as she sat for an interview in a hotel suite on the Sunset Strip. Of the gossip regarding the casting of the role, Duvall said, “It is awkward. People ask me about it wherever I go, but as far as I know everything’s fine. I’ve got the part, Robert Altman called me when I was in London and said, ‘Shell, I’ve got the role you were born to play. Guess what it is?’ I couldn’t guess, but when he told me, I was thrilled.” Elsewhere she added, “All I know is the producer, the director and the writer want me for the part, so I must assume all is well.”

The Cinematheque series also includes Terry Gilliam’s 1981 “Time Bandits” and Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 “The Shining.” The Kubrick film in particular has become a contentious part of Duvall’s legacy, as some fans have come to feel the extreme conditions of the shoot were borderline abusive.

Duvall herself cheerfully said in her 1979 Times interview, after shooting had finished on “The Shining,” that “I don’t think any actress in the history of this business has had to cry as much as I did,” before adding, “And you know something? It was such a marvelous release. Great therapy. After spending all day crying, I’d feel just wonderful in the evening.”

‘La Bamba’ in 4K at the Academy

As a follow-up to his ambitious debut “Zoot Suit,” writer-director Luis Valdez made 1987’s “La Bamba,” a biopic of early rock-’n’-roller Richie Valens, who had three chart-topping hits in eight months and died at just 17 in a plane crash that also took the lives of Buddy Holly and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson.

The Academy Museum will screen “La Bamba” in 4K on Saturday with star Lou Diamond Phillips, who plays Valens, scheduled to appear along with actor and musical director Daniel Valdez and actor and producer Esai Morales for a conversation moderated by Patty Rodriguez.

Besides telling Valens’ story — his last name was changed from Valenzuela — the film is also a portrait of Chicano life in Southern California in the 1950s. Valens’ music is re-created by L.A.’s own Los Lobos, who had a No. 1 hit with a remake of Valens’ signature song, “La Bamba.”

In her original Times review, Sheila Benson noted that Valdez “has flooded his movie with the driving, irresistible music of Los Lobos, he has reached deep into personal memory for authentic details of migrant worker camps and cracker-box San Fernando Valley houses, and in Lou Diamond Phillips he has found an exceptional young unknown to play Valens. With all these strengths, the wonder is that the movie isn’t full of raw energy, that it’s for the most part polite melodrama … You can have a perfectly pleasant time at ‘La Bamba,’ but you come out still hungry to understand the forces that shaped him.”

Points of interest

‘Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning’

On Wednesday, as part of the series “Killer Movies With Josh Miller,” the American Cinematheque will show John Hyams’ 2012 “Universal Solder: Day of Reckoning.” A gritty, brutal action picture with appearances from series regulars Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren, the story involves a man (Scott Adkins) looking to avenge his slain family, along the way uncovering a government program of genetically modified soldiers.

Via email, Miller said that while the series skews toward horror and action, “the unifying idea is they’re all movies that ‘kill’ with a crowd. The kind of movies that you’d save to watch with a big group of friends because you know it will be more fun. Movies that have that certain je ne sais quoi that almost seems to feed off the audience reaction. And I particularly love reevaluating movies that got a bum rap when they first came out, that I think should be considered a genre classic moving forward.”

Miller noted that “Day of Reckoning” was one of the titles he had in mind when he first thought of the series. The film had a nominal release when it first came out, so most people have only seen it on home video. As Miller put it, “Most people who watched it, probably watched it alone and had no idea what to make of it. It is such a wild film, a blood-soaked thrill ride with art-house aesthetics. A lot of film nerds found it and loved it, yet you rarely see it talked about with other great action films of the past 15 years. And it should be. John Hyams’ skill with directing action is so inventive and effortless. It practically sizzles off the screen. So I am hoping to expose it to some fresh and ready eyeballs.”

I reviewed the movie when it originally opened, lauding an extended fight scene in a sporting goods store that must be seen to be believed, while noting, “Just through general downer mojo and heavy use of some serious strobe effects, the movie creates something of the sensation of huffing industrial solvents — in a good way! — a waking-sleep zombification that can’t exactly be described as pleasurable but definitely has an odd, distinct power.”

‘Watermelon Man’ and ‘Putney Swope’

On Wednesday and Thursday, the New Beverly will have a double bill of Melvin Van Peebles’ 1970 “Watermelon Man” and Robert Downey Sr.’s 1969 “Putney Swope.” Both films are scathing satires of America’s attitudes towards race at the time, and both remain timely, outrageous and funny today.

In “Watermelon Man,” Godfrey Cambridge plays a racist white man who wakes up one day to discover that he is now Black. As Kevin Thomas put it in his original Times review, “The things that could be predicted to happen to Cambridge happen — his neighbors want him to move because they believe he’s a threat to property values, his wife proves not to be the liberal she claimed to be, his boss, once past the initial shock, sees in his newly Black salesman a chance to exploit a whole new marketplace. But surely there’s lots more for a white man to discover about what it’s like to be Black in America than this.”

“Putney Swope” stars Arnold Johnson as the only Black executive at an advertising firm, where he is accidentally put in charge. He renames the company Truth and Soul, Inc. and turns the business on its head, bringing actual truth to advertising.

In his original Times review of the film, Champlin wrote, “‘Putney Swope’ is not for anyone who demands good taste in movies, or restraint, or a presumption of dignity in the human character. But in its youthful, irreverent, and uninhibited by medicinal way, ‘Putney Swope’ is shocking good fun.”

Also in the news

‘Alien: Romulus’

The latest iteration of the “Alien” franchise, “Alien: Romulus” hits theaters this weekend. Directed and co-written by Fede Alvarez, the film stars Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson and Archie Renaux.

In a review for The Times, Katie Walsh noted that the franchise had always made space for the individual aesthetics and preoccupations of its directors, from Ridley Scott and James Cameron to David Fincher and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. As she wrote, “With ‘Evil Dead’ and ‘Don’t Breathe’ director Fede Alvarez now at the helm of ‘Alien: Romulus,’ it’s no surprise that his version is a contained slasher flick drenched in goopy viscera, in which a group of scrappy youths are hunted down by an unknowable monster. Co-written by Alvarez and Rodo Sayagués, the screenplay for ‘Alien: Romulus’ is ruthlessly efficient while touching down on recognizable themes from the series: pregnancy, female strength and the clash between human and artificial intelligence.”

Walsh added, “One could argue that ‘Alien’ movies are like pizza — they’re good even when they’re not so great — and aside from a few head-scratching choices that will no doubt inspire reams of think pieces, ‘Alien: Romulus,’ with its thrilling tactility and appealingly plucky cast, is a very enjoyable pie.”

Carlos Aguilar interviewed Alvarez , who described what it was like collaborating with Scott as a producer on the film. Though Alvarez had previously collaborated with filmmaker Sam Raimi , something about Scott was different.

“I became a nervous little kid knowing I was going to have the opportunity to have an audience with the great Ridley Scott, and the times I’ve met with him since it always feels the same,” Alvarez said. “It’s like having the chance to visit the Oracle of Delphi.”

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Alain Delon, Smoldering French Film Star, Dies at 88

The César-winning actor was an international favorite in the 1960s and ’70s, often sought after by the era’s great auteurs.

Alain Delon in California in 1964 during the filming of the movie “Once a Thief.” Credit... Wayne Miller/Magnum Photos

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By Anita Gates

• Aug. 18, 2024

Alain Delon, the intense and intensely handsome French actor who, working with some of Europe’s most revered 20th-century directors, played cold Corsican gangsters as convincingly as hot Italian lovers, died on Sunday. He was 88.

He died at his home in Douchy-Montcorbon, France, according to a statement his family gave to the French news service Agence France-Presse.

Hours later, President Emmanuel Macron honored him in a post on social media, saying, “Wistful, popular, secretive, he was more than a star: a French monument.”

During his heyday, the 1960s and ’70s, Mr. Delon was a first-tier international star, highly paid and often sought after by the era’s great auteurs.

When he burst on the scene in the gangster genre, as a sad-eyed, saintly young sibling in “Rocco and His Brothers” (1960), Luchino Visconti was in the director’s chair. Two years later, when Mr. Delon played a sexy stock trader, it was in Michelangelo Antonioni ’s “L’Eclisse” (“Eclipse”).

And “Le Samouraï” (1967), released in the United States as “The Godson,” and the jewelry-heist flick “Le Cercle Rouge” (1970), in which Mr. Delon was a sinister, mustachioed ex-con, were both directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, patron saint of the French New Wave.

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