Stephen, please post if appropriate.
"Mafia!" - Crime Isn't a Funny Business by Homer Yen (c) 1998
On a particular night when I found myself having some free time, I had a chance to either go to sleep early or to see "Mafia!", a spoof of Mafia and crime films such as "The Godfather," "Goodfellas" and "Casino". At 84 minutes in length, I thought that I could enjoy a few laughs before getting a good nights sleep. But by my account, I think that my laff-o-meter only registered a few grins, one giggle, and maybe one chortle.
I suppose that you could justify your time as homage to the venerable Hollywood star, Lloyd Bridges, who just recently passed away and whose last performance was in this film. "Mafia!" chronicles Vincenzo Cortino's (Lloyd Bridges) life. Separated from his family when he was young, he escapes to America and tries to live an honest life. But as fate would have it, Vincenzo grows up to be a powerful and klutzy crime lord. Following in his footsteps are his two sons, Joey (Billy Burke) and Anthony (Jay Mohr). Like all siblings in powerful crime families, they squabble over power, the future of the family, fortune, and women.
"Mafia!" is co-written by Jim Abrahams, who also contributed to some gut-busting funny spoofs such as "Airplane" and "The Naked Gun." But these previous movies were funny because the jokes seemed more universally understood and there was more of a manic silliness at work. As I write this, I also wonder how many people have actually seen the movies on which this spoof is based. Crime movies in general contain a lot of profanity and violence. It's a tough genre to parody. I was kind of hoping that they could somehow spoof the profanity used in all of those crime movies, maybe by having all of the tough crime lords say "please" as they decide which sector to take over, but this opportunity was never explored. There were one or two moments that made me smile such as the scene where Vincenzo is dancing with his newly wed daughter-in-law. A gunman shoots him several times. The impact of the bullets cause him to make these wild contortions that force the wedding band to change music styles to keep up with him, from the samba to disco to the macarena. I think that I just gave away the best part of the film. Oh well, that just means that you can go to sleep a little earlier.
Grade: C-
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