Family Business (1989)

This was a movie I was hoping would be better with the cast including Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman, and Matthew Broderick as three generations of a NYC family that just can't seem to get crime out of their genes.  From the packaging, it looks like Family Business is a comedy but when you watch it run through, while it does have its light-hearted moments, it turns out to be pretty dang serious - too dang serious for my money.

The story is from the novel by Vincent Patrick, directed by drama specialist Sidney Lumet who has done better work in movies like The Verdict and The Pawnbroker. I guess I might have known better but I really didn't notice Lumet's name as I examined the DVD and if I had, I probably would have tried it anyway because he does do some pretty good stuff and he may have done some decent comedy as a change of pace - lots of directors have - well in this case, the answer was "no," but, you never know...

The three characters are members of an extended family whose roots are Irish through Sean Connery, however the first thing we see is a Passover Seder with an extended Jewish family including Dustin Hoffman and Matthew Broderick, his son.  Through developments we later learn that the Jewish side of the family is Dustin's wife (ha ha) and in-laws.  He is Irish (ha ha) like his dad, who we later meet - Sean Connery.

Another funny moment is spent figuring out why a Jewish man's name is Vito (Hoffman). This is finally splained through developments that Irish Jessie (Connery) married a Sicilian who gave birth to Hoffman - so that explains how he got his name but it doesn't make him seem any more Irish.

The grandson (Broderick) is a whiz in school but he wants to be like his granddad (Connery) who is a noted thief of the small fry variety.  His dad (Hoffman) also did time in the slammer and has spent his life trying to live down the shame, selling wholesale meat.  The grandson approaches the other two with a million dollar caper that the grandfather is happy to go along on and the father goes along to protect his son - sort of like an overprotective mother.

The story is pretty lame and it switches back and forth from drama to comedy to caper, a little too often for my liking.  There are very few laughs and the ones that do make it through do not really satisfy although Connery does have his usual lower class charm that saves the movie from being entirely lost.  

However, neither Hoffman nor Broderick can do much with the script and the other supporting characters are nearly meaningless in the presence of so much bona fide star power. It's really a shame that the writing was so poor.  Broderick gets made to wear some obviously fake horn rimmed glasses that make him look exactly like "Where's Waldo" or consumer advocate Clark Howard, if you know who he is. I'm sure Lumet was trying to make him look like a young stud but he is anything but in that guise.

The Columbia DVD is presented in color, in 1.85:1 theatrical format with a 113 minute running time. The film is well preserved but the only extras are a couple of trailers and subtitles.  Unless you are a completist of Sean Connery or Dustin Hoffman's works you can safely miss Family Business as it is not quite rotten but it does stink a bit like something that's been setting out too long.

This review is certified Sleeper-free Lean n Mean VIII  @ 604 words.

Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV