Review of Married To The Mob

Introduction

The mafia has always made for great movies as well as a few bad ones. The criminal fraternity is always a ripe subject for scriptwriters and provides a perennial flow of entertainment. On any given night there will inevitably be some drama on television concerning organised crime, the current favourite being the Sopranos of course. When it comes to cinema if I mention one word or one name, The Godfather or Scorsese, it immediately brings to mind how successful movies about the mafia are. With any successful genre, the opportunity to lampoon it is rarely neglected, and there are just as many comedies about the mob as there are serious treatments. The current cream of the crop are Analyse This and the forthcoming Analyse That, but in the eighties, perhaps the best example of the genre was Married To The Mob.

Angela de Marco is a mob wife. She is married to hitman, Frank and exists in the insular society of The Family. The mob wives stick together while their husbands work and play. However Angela is tired of the life, and tired of living on blood money. She wants something better for her son but Frank always persuades her to stay. But Frank`s philandering is inevitably fatal, especially as he is sleeping with the girlfriend of Tony `The Tiger` Russo, the head of the family. It`s at Frank`s funeral, when Tony tries to seduce the grieving widow, that Angela realises that this is her opportunity to escape, and soon she and her son move to the city. But Angela can`t escape that easily as the FBI have seen her in Tony`s embrace and they assume that they can get to him through her. Tony isn`t willing to give up on Angela and soon tracks her down. Tony`s jealous wife Connie, suspecting her husband soon follows. With her past unwilling to let her go, Angela is beleaguered until she happens to bump into plumber Mike `Smith`. Soon the two are hitting it off, and Angela sees a little ray of hope in her life. Unfortunately plumber Mike `Smith` is actually Special Agent Mike Downey, and events are drawing to an explosive climax.

Video

Another eighties back title gets a bare bones MGM release. Understandably not every title will get a high profile release with tons of extras. I wouldn`t mind really, as long as the picture and sound are up to scratch. Unfortunately this isn`t the case with Married To The Mob. The 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer is acceptable, but no more than that. The picture is grainy with flecks of dirt and scratches evident on the print throughout, and it`s evident that there has been no effort made to clean up the print. There is some macro blocking and ghosting of image as well, which at times is particularly noticeable. A misty bath scene is very much affected by these problems. As for the film itself, it just screams eighties. I`m fond of the eighties so I don`t really mind the pop art title sequence with its garish primary colours. Those unbelievable clothes and all that `big` hair makes me smile as well.

Audio

You get a choice of soundtracks in English, French, German and Spanish, all of them DD 2.0 Surround. There is a significant selection of subtitles also. The sound itself is a little front focussed with little whiz or even bang for your buck. But then this film isn`t really a surround sound bonanza. The dialogue is always clear, which is the important thing for this comedy. Did I mention it was the eighties? If you didn`t notice the fashions, then you`ll be reliably informed of that fact by the music. There is a good variety of eighties music accompanying the movie and for me that`s an added attraction.

Features

The trailer. Pretty funny, doesn`t give too much away.

Conclusion

I suppose that Married To The Mob is a black comedy. It would have passed for black comedy in the eighties but looking back on it from this side of the millennium it doesn`t quite seem to make it. The comic feel of Married To The Mob seems a little cut and paste, with the style varying from black, to a little slapstick, to romantic and back again. This disjointed style could have been detrimental to the story, but I found it enjoyable. Admittedly the view of the mob is horrendously clichéd, with stereotypical characters making up this view of mafia life. The Sopranos it ain`t. But the clichés are used well in subverting the genre and simply add to the hilarity. There are plenty of `forgeddaboudits` and the sight of Mother diving on the coffin crying "Take me with you, take me with you!" had me in stitches. There is even a little satire in the mix, with an ironic comparison of the FBI and the mob.

As I mentioned, the comedy is somewhat a mix, but this especially is down to the characters. Michelle Pfeiffer as Angela de Marco plays the romantic angle of the comedy. Her portrayal of the determined character is spirited and lively and she has a good match in Matthew Modine as Mike Downey. His character is the kind of quirky lead that is prevalent in eighties comedies, and you can easily see someone like Michael J. Fox in the role. He does look a little young to be an FBI agent though. The mob side of the comedy, providing the dark is Dean Stockwell as Tony Russo. This capable actor hams it up marvellously as the mob boss and is a delight to watch. Mercedes Ruehl steals every scene she is in though as the jealous wife Connie Russo. You see the green stuff oozing from every pore as she gnashes her teeth at any female who comes within spitting distance of her husband. The words `John Wayne Bobbitt` spring to mind. Providing support are Alec Baldwin as Frank de Marco and Oliver Platt as Mike Downey`s FBI partner, Ed Benitez. Watch out for a glimpse of Chris Izaak as a homicidal clown.

Jonathan Demme`s mob comedy is typical eighties fare, light and frothy and a little insubstantial. But make an effort to see past the eightiesness of the film`s style, for Married To The Mob is an entertaining and enjoyable comedy that is fast, witty and more importantly funny. Best of all, there are no fart gags, no protein rich hair gel, and no incidents with animals, basically no gross out moments at all. Strangely though, the end credits indicate a wealth of deleted scenes that obviously don`t make it to this bare bones disc. The picture quality is barely acceptable but the film is definitely worth a look.