Robert De Niro brings lightning intensity to mobsters and miscreants in films such as “Mean Streets,” “Raging Bull,” “Cape Fear,” and “Goodfellas.” But with “The Family,” opening September 13, he taps into another skill set: his capacity for comedy. From “Midnight Run” (1988) through “Analyze This” (1999), “Meet the Parents” (2000) and their sequels, De Niro has carved an entertaining niche as the straight man whose terse, tough delivery elicits laughs.
Based on the book Malavita by Tonino Benacquista and directed by Luc Besson, “The Family” casts De Niro as Giovanni Manzoni, the patriarch of a mafia family hiding out in France under witness protection. Naturally, their hot tempers and old habits don’t mesh well with a low-profile bucolic lifestyle. Michele Pfeiffer co-stars as De Niro’s steely wife, Maggie, who’d rather rig up a bomb in the grocery aisle than put up with any “stupid American” nonsense from the natives. (“Who’s gonna rebuild the supermarket that burned down the day we got here? Huh?” De Niro says in the trailer.)
“The Family” also features Tommy Lee Jones as the clan’s government liaison, himself no stranger to straight-man comedic parts that play off his flinty persona (see: “Men in Black”). Have these hard-boiled leading men mellowed with age? Not likely. Rather, they’re comfortable poking fun at themselves, finding humor in the types of characters that made them famous. Tweaking their well-worn personas a bit makes the wit that much richer.
Check out these other famous tough guys who veered into comedy and found box-office gold.