Family Business (1989)

You would think with this lineup, this movie would be a sure thing. I mean look at it! Where else in the history of cinema has there been this much talent on the same screen?

Knighted in 2000 by the Queen of England herself, Scottish born Sean Connery broke the Hollywood trap of typecasting from his many successful James Bond films, and is now known as one of the most consummate motion picture performers of all time. Oh, and he got an Oscar in 1987 for The Untouchables. Dustin Hoffman impressed the world early in his career with The Graduate, and has quite a consistent track record with at least one successful film every year since 1967. He was nominated for the Oscars seven times and won twice. Just Hoffman and Connery alone on the screen together should be enough, but throw into the mix the comparatively youthful Matthew Broderick and the screen should be supercharged with guaranteed nonstop drama, action, humor and raw memorable entertainment.

Should be.

Broderick's career on the big screen was solidified with "WarGames" in 1983, just as Hoffman's work on "The Graduate" or Connery's first Bond picture "Dr. No" permanently put those men on the map. Even compared to these more experienced and mature talents, Broderick's resume is comparatively impressive, with easily a dozen critical or financial successes under his belt. Though not yet an Oscar winner himself, his work in films like "Glory," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and Neil Simon's "Biloxi Blues" have rewarded him with awards and respect among his peers. Able to dance flawlessly between drama and comedy, he was easily a suitable match for Hoffman and Connery.

This should be one of the greatest films of all time. Three talents this impressive should still cause a buzz among movie fans everywhere. This should be a film that is heralded as the greatest production ever. It should be. You would think on the surface that it was. I've watched this film more than once. I can't put my finger on why exactly, but it is terrible. The dialog is stiff. The performances do not match men of this caliber. They seem to be going through the motions instead of emoting anything. The pacing is slow. The plot is flawed with an amoral and apathetic approach to having a theme, or a moral, or even a desire to be about anything in particular. There is no purpose to the storytelling. It goes out of its way to speak volumes of nothing about anything. It's difficult to even believe these men are remotely related to one another. The chemistry between the actors is diluted. They might as well be playing golf together. And most of all, it's a tired premise for a film: three generations of a family blood line, separated by the generation gap, cultural differences and various past events which caused a strain on relationships are inevitably drawn together because of one thing: family blood. It's predictable. There's no suspense. There's no emotional attachment to the characters by the audience. The end result of this film is like a brightly colored clown forgetting to inflate the balloons that he uses to create balloon animals.

Watching these three men interviewed by Barbra Walters about what they each ate for breakfast would be more exciting than this film. This film isn't even a car wreck. At least with a car wreck there is something that causes one to do a double take. The potential for a head rolling out of the glove compartment. Something.

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Fmovies: Connery, Hoffman, Broderick, oh my! OK, it should have been an Oscar contender, but it wasn't. Vince Patrick's work will never rival Tolstoy, but it isn't intended to. This is classic Connery chewing scenery with acid tongue dialogue and more than a few memorable moments. Hardly a talent waster, lets call it an under achiever, just like the main characters here.

I've got to learn to stop believing the studio-generated hype on movie jackets. To look at the summary, Family Business would appear to be a comedy...."laughs and larceny!" Whoever thought this movie is funny has a weird sense of humor. For me, it did not achieve even black comedy status. A couple of gaping holes in the plot almost made me eject it from the player. Were it not for the star power and consummate acting of Hoffman and Connery, I wouldn't have made it through to the end. And it may have been the first time for both of them to play characters we never really get to know. Broderick is wasted on a character that whines throughout the story. Glad I didn't pay full-tilt admission at a theater when this was first released.

Family Business fmovies. Sean Connery, Dustin Hoffman, and Matthew Broderick play an unlikely combination of grandfather, father and son in a family held together more by larceny than love. It might be little more than a miscast Hollywood star package gift-wrapped for the holidays, but the otherwise routine caper scenario is given added depth in the script by Vincent Patrick ('The Pope of Greenwich Village'), showing his affection for offbeat New York City characters and allowing a full hour of screen time before the big heist to establish each relationship. Young Broderick idolizes crooked granddad Connery, forcing a reformed Hoffman to reluctantly accompany them on one last job, to protect his overeager, amateur son. The fun and games end when the robbery begins, but under the typically efficient (if unstylish) direction of Sidney Lumet the film never quite sinks to the expected level of melodrama, despite going for the sentimental chokehold in the final scenes.

Looking back now, we can say that this is the kind of films Hollywood should be doing now. Put together three big stars from different generations and make a good film about a good subject; in the case of "Family Business" about a family united in criminal activities. A material like this could rescue the career of many veterans actors.

In 1989, having Sean Connery (after Oscar for "The Untouchables"), Dustin Hoffman (right away for his Oscar in "Rain Man") and Matthew Broderick (still on the wave from hits like "Biloxi Blues" and "Ferris Bueller Day Off") as the cast from this film directed by Sidney Lumet was solid gold, a real bait to attract audiences, and even know when you hear that those talents were together in a picture you rush away to see it. Those are the expectations but expectations always differ from reality. Given a better script these could be a better picture than it is, more memorable.

"Family Business" tells the story of three generations of a problematic Jewish family involved with robberies. It starts when the bright college student Broderick (Hoffman's son and Connery's grandson here) decides to get involved in a sure thing business related to robbing a laboratory and he calls for his family to help with. But all of this triggers a crisis among father and son and grandfather, when Hoffman's characters wants at all costs protect his son for doing this, he doesn't want his son to get caught and arrested while Connery thinks they must do it, because nothing can go wrong. From here, the movie is more about family issues than dangerous and illegal activities.

It lacks substance to this being a great film, it lacks something to make us involved with their problems. The main problem was the that there were times when the film required of its viewers a certain seriousness but when we knew this was also a comedy. It gets stranded in never being really funny and never being awfully dramatic as some situations tend do be. The good news about this project is that Sean Connery has an incredible timing for comedy, his punchlines were amazingly funny, not to mention that his character is very problematic yet very amusing. His best scenes are when he defends himself on court for beating a policeman and when he beats another prisoner during their transfer, to what the guard asks what happened and the other prisoners reply "He felt!"

A path should be decided by the writers in what type of film they were looking for, a goofy comedy or a powerful drama about family relations, and that was a deficiency that almost ruined the film for me. Regarding the most awaited moment of this, the robbery was pretty good, funny and tense at the same time but the whole situation involving Broderick's arrest was poorly made, unconvincing that he couldn't run away and cross the street to his family car or run to any other direction when it was clearly enough that the police wasn't so close to him, that scene is bizarre. One final complaint: the soundtrack was totally wrong for this film, hauntingly dramatic.

What makes me like of this film, except the reunion of stars involved even though they're not at their best and they are somewhat mediocre, is its way of showing us the importance of family and caring about them whether through good times or bad times. When it comes down to present how Hoffman suffers for his son, wants the best for him, is when the movie really hits the target, family is family and

Good acting. I was quite surprised with the end result. Three blockbusters with an excellent supporting cast.

Seeing that this was Connery and Hoffman, billed together with Broderick, I was expecting a real thriller. Ouch! Sitting way out in the audience, even I had to think. This film is a brain-teaser from start to finish, and gently plucks at the emotions. When you rent it, or go to see it, pay attention.

A criminal family, torn between right and wrong? How could this be?

Cute, innocent Victoria Jackson, as Christine, plays Matthew Broderick's, Adam's, fiancée, and is revealed to be someone even lower than this three-generation family of thieves.

Fascinating, ironic, clever, well done . . .