Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Family Pack’ on Netflix, a Wacky French Comedy Based on the Werewolf Party Game

From the Please Don’t Make a Movie Based on Cards Against Humanity File comes Family Pack (now on Netflix), a benign comedy-adventure based on the French party game The Werewolves of Millers Hollow. If you’re not familiar with this specific “social deduction” game, let it be known that it’s based on Mafia (also known as Werewolf in some circles), where players try to suss out the evildoers among the group; younger generations may recognize it as the core idea for the popular video game Among Us. The family-friendly movie stars French vets Franck Dubosc, Suzanne Clement and Jean Reno as members of a family that finds itself zapped back to medieval times, and in order to get back home, must figure out who the werewolves among the townsfolk are. Silliness ensues, needless to say.

FAMILY PACK: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Let’s meet this family, whose last names aren’t revealed, although I’m thinking it should be Pack, shouldn’t it? There’s dad Jerome (Dubosc), mom Marie (Clement) and grandpa Gilbert (Reno). Clara (Lisa Do Couto Texeira) is Jerome’s daughter from a previous marriage, Theo (Raphael Romand) is Marie’s son from a previous marriage and Louise (Alizee Caugnies) is their daughter from this here current marriage. They assemble at Grandpa’s to squabble and play Werewolf, but when he fidgets with the fancy carved gameboard an earthquake rumbles the house. Once the mild calamity subsides they step outside to find they’ve been transported to 1497, which is after the Black Plague turned vast swaths of Europe into a graveyard, but before penicillin was invented, so hey, be careful out there.

This unfortunate situation renders the (unofficial) Packs as the (unofficial) Anachronisms: They look funny, Marie tries to buy a pastry with a contactless payment and you can’t get a cell signal to save your life. They stroll into the town of Millers Hollow just in time to see a public execution – a wholesome beheading, fun for the whole family! – and soon realize that people of this era apparently ate dried squirrel testicles by the jarful. They also learn that every night, the town is besieged by werewolves, so you either obey the curfew or become Alpo for lycans, which tells me that libertarians and anarchists might be their primary menu item.

Kinda-sorta possibly almost true to the nature of the board game, our protags get superpowers, e.g., Jerome can read minds, Theo is an expert thief and Clara, who back in the 21st century is a social media influencer, is invisible, so put that big wad of irony chaw between your lip and gum and chew it. They contend with the ruthless sexism of the era (Marie fights back against rampant spousal abuse, depicted here as a societal norm), befriend a gay man who’s rejected by society and eventually maybe try to fit in instead of being the (unofficial) Fishoutofwater family. Oh, and they also aim to kill werewolves. Gotta win the game in order to get home, it seems. Easier said than done! 

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Jumanji is the obvious reference point, and Werewolves Within (based on a video game also derived from Mafia) is the slightly less-obvious one. 

Performance Worth Watching: Jean Reno, The Professional himself, now plays senile grandpas. He’s fine here, everything’s fine, how are you? 

Memorable Dialogue: Grandpa Gilbert gets fatalistic: “We’re all going to die in 1497. I’ve always wanted to get leprosy.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Family Pack is mostly harmless, and mostly annoying unless you’re in the target demographic of, I dunno, 8-14-year-olds and their parents, the latter of whom hopefully will get an opportunity to slip out of the room and self-medicate with some sort of mostly legal consumable recreational substance. It’s a touch weird how the film blends the frivolous flapdoodle of safe-for-the-whole-family fodder with satirical depictions of capital punishment and violent misogyny – two ideas that convene when Marie is hilariously accused of being a witch – but this might just be my stoopide Americain perspective, which admittedly might be out of touch with sophisticated European sensibilities. The movie seems to assert that the human race has become more enlightened during the last 500 years, but I’d counter that we’ve just gotten more subtle in our crass stupidity. OK, maybe we’re like, 0.28 percent more enlightened, if we factor in modern medicine, and if you think that number should be higher, keep in mind that modern health insurance takes a big chunk out of the ol’ enlightenment percentage.

Anyway, there isn’t a cure for werewolfism in this particular movie reality, so rest assured, the climax will be big and dumb and noisy, with plenty of people in furry costumes running around and growling. Hey, at least the monsters aren’t CG, right? And hey, at least all this silly stupidicizing has Something To Say about Things And Stuff That Ain’t Right, so it’s spilling over with Positive Messages For The Children. But hey, have you bought a certain board game yet? And its expansion packs? How about the extra-expensive super-deluxe version? My experience with Among Us and the like is limited, but it seems like more active-brain fun than this passive-brain, passably amusing glorified product-advertisement of a movie. 

Our Call: Your tolerance for wacky antics will be tested by Family Pack, but always remember that we should be grateful some studio brainz haven’t yet greenlit Hi-Ho Cherry-O: The Movie. Anyone not fully satiated by three Jumanjis or the long-forgotten Zathura will want to STREAM IT. 

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.