Robert De Niro’s 111-Minute Mafia Crime Thriller Is Running Out Of Time To Stream

For more than 50 years, Robert De Niro has been one of the defining actors dominating the crime genre.

From The Godfather Part II and Goodfellas to Casino (which is one of his most underrated projects) and The Irishman, the Oscar winner has built a powerhouse resume of Mafia films, helping shape the modern gangster genre through some of the most iconic performances in movie history. While many of those classics remain essential viewing, De Niro has also taken occasional detours into lighter crime stories that blend mob drama with dark comedy, giving audiences a different look at the familiar world of organized crime.

One of those lesser-known entries is about to leave HBO Max. The Family, De Niro’s 2013 crime comedy, is scheduled to exit the streaming service in August, giving subscribers a limited amount of time to watch the 111-minute movie before it disappears from the platform. The movie will remain available through other streaming and digital services (with subscriptions) after its HBO Max run ends.

Directed by Luc Besson, The Family is based on Tonino Benacquista’s novel Malavita and follows Giovanni Manzoni (De Niro), a former Mafia boss who enters the Witness Protection Program with his wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer) and their children, Belle (Dianna Agron) and Warren (John D’Leo). Relocated to a quiet town in Normandy, France, the family attempts to leave their criminal past behind, but old habits die hard as each member struggles to adapt to ordinary suburban life.

Their repeated inability to blend in creates chaos wherever they go, drawing unwanted attention from both local residents and the criminal underworld they thought they escaped. Tommy Lee Jones co-stars as the exhausted FBI agent responsible for keeping the family safe, even as their increasingly reckless behavior threatens to expose their identities.

Unlike De Niro’s best-known crime dramas, The Family embraces a much more comedic tone. Rather than focusing on power struggles within organized crime, the movie plays with the idea of what happens when a notorious Mafia family is forced to live like ordinary citizens. The result is a blend of action, dark humor, and fish-out-of-water comedy that stands apart from the actor’s more serious gangster roles.

While reviews were mixed upon release, The Family has found an audience among viewers looking for a lighter take on the Mafia genre. The chemistry between De Niro and Pfeiffer remains one of the movie’s biggest strengths, while Besson balances bursts of violence with playful comedy throughout the brisk 111-minute runtime.

Although The Family won’t disappear from streaming altogether, its upcoming departure from HBO Max gives subscribers a limited opportunity to revisit one of the more overlooked movies in De Niro’s extensive crime catalog before it leaves the platform in August. For fans who have already worked through his iconic Mafia classics, it’s certainly worth checking out while it’s still accessible on the streaming giant.