Family Business

1989

Action / Comedy / Crime / Drama

24
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 35% · 17 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 27% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 5.7/10 10 14387 14.4K

heist criminal life sentence

Plot summary

Jessie is an aging career criminal who has been in more jails, fights, schemes, and lineups than just about anyone else. His son Vito, while currently on the straight and narrow, has had a fairly shady past and is indeed no stranger to illegal activity. They both have great hope for Adam, Vito's son and Jessie's grandson, who is bright, good-looking, and without a criminal past.

Director

Sidney Lumet Photo
Sidney Lumet

Top cast

Jack O'Connell Photo
Jack O'Connell as Police Lieutenant
Dustin Hoffman Photo
Dustin Hoffman as Vito
Sean Connery Photo
Sean Connery as Jessie
Luis Guzmán Photo
Luis Guzmán as Torres
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
997.63 MB
1280*682
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 50 min
Seeds 2
1.77 GB
1920*1024
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 50 min
Seeds 10

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by KnightsofNi11 7 / 10

Has its problems, but a good film nonetheless

For many, the family business is a meat market, or a hardware store, or maybe even a homely little jewelry store. For the McMullen's, the family business is armed robbery. Jessie McMullen (Sean Connery) is an aging yet unabashed criminal who has been in the business for many years. When his grandson, Adam (Matthew Broderick), finds the opportunity to net a cool million dollars, Jessie organizes one last heist with himself, Adam, and Adam's father, Jessies son, Vito (Dustin Hoffman). Vito is reluctant at first, but eventually comes around to pull of the heist. The movie tells the story of some rocky family ties and how the relationship between these three generations waxes and wanes in a very unconventional method.The film is directed by the late and great Sydney Lumet. Lumet wasn't a consistent director and obviously put out some pretty terrible films, as well as some incredible films. Family Business falls right in between these two poles. It has its problems but it isn't a terrible film. Lumet directs the film very well with some great tracking shots of various New York locations we see in the film. The two funerals that take place in the film both include pans that lay out the characters very nicely in tightly constructed cinematography that isn't exactly flashy or incredible to look at, but adds a very subtle quality to the direction of the film. Lumet also directs his actors with a lot of precision and the performances from the three leads are excellent. All three characters are very different, not only in age but in personality and personal convictions. Each actor plays their character's nuances and attitudes very nicely, delivering dialogue that is at times cheesy and convoluted, yet also sharp when it isn't being silly.The nice thing about this film is that there aren't any glaring issues. There are a multitude of small problems along the way, but nothing that kills the film's momentum or ruins the story. The issues range from bad chunks of dialogue, to moments that just don't fit well with the story, like Sean Connery singing. There are some pretty ugly plot holes that stick out when present, but thankfully they aren't anything that carry over throughout the film, causing more and more unrealistic problems. Overall the story doesn't exactly tie up as nicely as it could have. It leaves some loose ends and it resolves a few points a little too easily. I can't buy into everything that happened in this film, but I can believe enough to say that this is a decent film.This is really just a film that sets out to entertain and tell an interesting story. It kept me interested from start to finish, and there were enough good things about this film to allow me to thoroughly enjoy it. The high points would be Lumet's direction and the great performances from the three leads. The low points would be the kinks in the story and some of the forced dialogue. Yet overall this is a fun little film that more or less accomplishes what little it sets out to do.
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Reviewed by bankcello 6 / 10

Not too bad a movie, but I hated the ending

Since this movie has been commented upon dozens of times there is no need to repeat the plot. I am a fan of Connery and Hoffman and usually enjoy their acting. They did OK in this one.

I did not like the attitude expressed by the Broderick character. It is really not the most wonderful thing in the world to be a petty criminal. Connery seems to think it is, and Hoffman thinks it is not. We, the audience are meant to believe that criminality=freedom in this case.

What I hated about the ending was that Connery, a Scot is given a traditional Irish wake, complete with Danny Boy. Would a good Scot put up with that, even while dead?!

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