Mafia! Review
by Jamie Peck (jpeck1 AT gl DOT umbc DOT edu)August 28th, 1998
MAFIA!
Reviewed by Jamie Peck
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rating: *** (out of ****)
Touchstone / 1:26 / 1998 / PG-13 (crude humor, comedic violence, language)
Cast: Jay Mohr; Billy Burke; Christina Applegate; Lloyd Bridges; Pamela Gidley; Olympia Dukakis; Jason Fuchs; Joe Viterelli; Tony Lo Bianco Director: Jim Abrahams
Screenplay: Jim Abrahams; Greg Norberg; Michael McManus
------------------------------------------------------------------------ As movie spoofs go, Jim Abrahams' "Mafia!" isn't quite up to the dazzling laugh quotients of "The Naked Gun" and "The Naked Gun 2½," which he co-wrote, or "Airplane!", which he co-wrote and co-directed, or "Hot Shots!" and "Hot Shots! Part Deux," which he co-wrote and directed all by himself. (If it's got an exclamation point in the title, Abrahams is behind the wheel.) But even if "Mafia!"'s convulsion-inducing yuks number moderately few, at least it strings them together with a steady supply of hearty chuckles. Plus, it's so much more on-target than most of the "parodies" we've been subjected to lately -- "Robin Hood: Men in Tights," "National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1," "Dracula: Dead and Loving It" and "Spy Hard," to name a few -- that it seems like a breath of fresh, funny air.
The joke is on mob movies this time, specifically "The Godfather" trilogy, as the all-powerful Don Vincenzo Cortino (the late Lloyd Bridges) comes to a realization that his crime empire must be handed down to one of his two sons -- noble war hero Anthony (Jay Mohr in the Al Pacino role) or coke-addicted psychopath Joey (Billy Burke in the James Caan role). There's even a Diane Keaton-esque girlfriend (Christina Applegate, nicely deadpan) for the former, appropriately named Diane. Some of "Casino" is rolled into the story as well, as Anthony starts business in Las Vegas and courts a sassy showgirl (Pamela Gidley, a dead ringer for Sharon Stone) who does a pole routine that could get her into the Olympics. This surreal physical display is one of the film's funniest moments.
For those who've never seen "The Godfather" -- get thee to a video store! -- or fear that the genre is too dated to milk for laughs, "Mafia!" also pokes fun at everything from "Striptease" to Barney to "The Lost World" to Riverdance to "Forrest Gump." (The best riff on "Gump," by the way, is not the "Run, florist, run!" bit showcased prominently on the previews, but rather a verbal exchange that ends with the line, "I have a son?") A great deal of these jokes work, though "Mafia!" sometimes pushes a visual too far, like the scene at a wedding reception where the band mistakenly believes a dancer is doing the Macarena, when, in fact, he's being jerked around by the hail of gunfire. It's funny to begin with, but the length of the sight gag sledgehammers away its effectiveness.
Most of the time, however, the over-the-top approach is played just right, piling gag on gag until the comedy bases are loaded and a home run is scored; a prime example would be a send-up of "The English Patient" that segues into a free-for-all puke party a la "Stand by Me." The closing credits hide subliminal jokes ranging from mock-throwaway trivia about the cast ("Fun fact: Actress Christina Applegate invented radar") to a great rewrite of the American Humane Association disclaimer. Even the press kit gets in on the silliness -- the movie production information is written completely in Italian, while Abrahams' bio states that "in addition to [the his films, he] has also attended screenings of ‘Gandhi,' ‘Wall Street,' ‘Dances With Wolves' and ‘The Silence of the Lambs.'"
Not much else can be said about "Mafia!" To criticize the indifferent plot or thin characters would be a pretty pointless task since their sole function is to provide something to hang all of the funny business on, and, in this case, the funny business is worthwhile for those of us who like this sort of thing. The genre that "Mafia!" belongs to is a difficult one to review because of its subjectivity -- either you find this sort of thing amusing or you don't. I did, and enough that I can recommend it as an enjoyable summer diversion, though it's nowhere near as enjoyable as many of its ancestors. Speaking of lineage, frequent Abrahams collaborators David Zucker and Pat Proft have similar fare due in the coming weeks with "BASEketball" and "Wrongfully Accused," respectively. Here's to hoping they're at least on par with "Mafia!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ © 1998 Jamie Peck
E-mail: jpeck1@gl.umbc.edu
Visit the New and Improved Reel Deal Online:
http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~jpeck1/
"After the screening was over and the lights went up, I observed a couple of my colleagues in deep and earnest conversation, trying to resolve twists in the plot. They were applying more thought to the movie than the makers did. A critic's mind is a terrible thing to waste." -- Roger Ebert on "I Know What You Did Last Summer"
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
