Luc Besson’s “The Family” is a difficult movie to write about because it is impossible to feel strongly about it one way or another. It is generally inoffensive, but it doesn’t do anything especially noteworthy either. It just sort of exists.

The main problem with “The Family” is that it constantly feels as though it is coming from a million different directions all at once.

Besson, most famous for directing the sci-fi hit, “The Fifth Element,” tries to tell a story about the importance of family, sandwiched between bits of organized crime, action, high-school drama and fish-out-of-water comedy. This is problematic because the movie doesn’t deliver any of these particular elements well.

The film follows a former mob family from Brooklyn as they adjust to life in a French village under the witness protection program.

The father, Fred Blake (Robert De Niro), snitched out his former associates, and the family is trying to avoid being hunted down and assassinated by the mafia.

The majority of the movie is about the family getting into all sorts of wacky situations in their new home, with an odd shift to mafia action in the final act. The actors do a great job, with Michelle Pfeifer stealing the show as the cold matriarch of the family, Maggie Blake. However, everything feels empty because the characters are extremely unlikable.

The running joke in “The Family” is the protagonists’ tendency to solve petty issues with brutal violence. Rude grocery store clerks, incompetent plumbers and idiot teenagers are all on the receiving end of hellish attacks for the sake of comedy.

That stuff is entertaining, but it negates Besson’s attempts to humanize the characters throughout the movie. It’s hard to feel sorry for them when they’re having a tender family moment just minutes after murdering several people. That kind of tonal swing happens several times in the film, and it is jarring every time.

There are some good ideas in “The Family” that, along with a great cast, are wasted on bizarre changes in tone, unlikable characters and comedic moments that just aren’t that funny. It is entertaining enough to sit through, but it’s also largely unmemorable. At best, it might be a decent movie to watch on Netflix.