The campaign for 'The Family' got off to a rough start. Early trailers played up the movie as a standard fish-out-of-water caper and it was flat. So flat. I couldn't really watch them. The movie looked dumb.
Thing is, this was a classic case of trying to make an edgy (I'm guessing) comedy with some pretty hardcore violence, or at least graphic acts of violence, look like a fluffy comedy that the average person might like. And it is, except for the violence.
Sure, it's not gritty. This isn't an exposé of gang/mafia life, but it does depict some pretty brutal stuff. It may not replicate all those beatings and acid baths with a sense of vérité, but it makes like the real thing. Makes like.
So, those first trailers weren't being honest and, as usual, they came off like they had something to hide. I thought it because the movie didn't have teeth. Turns out it was that the movie does, in fact, have teeth, and it looks pretty damn funny. Not so politically correct, maybe, but funny.
Liking much better. I want to see this now.
Oh, and, dear Marketing: Don't pull your punches.
