Married To The Mob (1988) ***1/2
Jonathan Demme's Married To The Mob (1988) is one of those 80s comedies that doesn't take itself too seriously, isn't too deep, but also isn't dumbed down to the lowest denominator. It's just a fun, cute, gangster farce/screwball comedy in the vein of Some Like It Hot (1959) (review).
Mob has a strong cast featuring a lot of name and character actors in roles of various sizes. Michelle Pfeiffer is a joy as Angela, a vulnerable widower of a mafia man who just wants to start over with a normal, honest life. Dean Stockwell is charmingly sleazy as over-amorous mob boss Tony "The Tiger" Russo who pursues Angela, despite his territorial wife Connie played by Mercedes Ruehl threatening both of them. And Matthew Modine is suitable as an earnest FBI agent, keeping tabs on Pfeiffer and (naturally) falling in love with her.
The score by David Byrne is very non-intrusive and the soundtrack has some great songs though most of them are relegated to the background (fun fact: Q Lazzarus' one-hit wonder "Goodbye Horses" was first used in this film before it was infamously featured again in Demme's The Silence Of The Lambs (1991) (review); Pfeiffer evens wear a similar robe to Jame Gumb).
Mob isn't really the kind of film that makes you laugh out loud but it does keep a smile on your face throughout.
Mob has a strong cast featuring a lot of name and character actors in roles of various sizes. Michelle Pfeiffer is a joy as Angela, a vulnerable widower of a mafia man who just wants to start over with a normal, honest life. Dean Stockwell is charmingly sleazy as over-amorous mob boss Tony "The Tiger" Russo who pursues Angela, despite his territorial wife Connie played by Mercedes Ruehl threatening both of them. And Matthew Modine is suitable as an earnest FBI agent, keeping tabs on Pfeiffer and (naturally) falling in love with her.
The score by David Byrne is very non-intrusive and the soundtrack has some great songs though most of them are relegated to the background (fun fact: Q Lazzarus' one-hit wonder "Goodbye Horses" was first used in this film before it was infamously featured again in Demme's The Silence Of The Lambs (1991) (review); Pfeiffer evens wear a similar robe to Jame Gumb).
Mob isn't really the kind of film that makes you laugh out loud but it does keep a smile on your face throughout.
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