Tag: crime comedy

MAFIA MAMMA – Review

Hmmm, now this is a strange bit of film release synergy. Now the big studio-wide release this weekend is RENFIELD which can be called a horror/comedy hybrid (though it’s also an action thriller satire). The other small studio (an “indy”, to be sure) flick also blends comedy with another very popular genre, crime. To be more specific it’s a crime-family comedy, hence the use of that “reviled” (to some) word. Oh, and there’s a “gender-switch” as a woman takes the seat at the head of the table for the “sit-down”. Hey, if there can be a godfather, then why not a MAFIA MAMMA?

The story kicks into high gear “across the pond” in the “old country”, Italy, soon after a gun battle that produces lots of casualties for both warring factions. This prompts a long-distance phone call from the Balbano family “advisor” Bianca (Monica Bellucci) to a relative in the States, harried working mom Kristin (Toni Collette). This contributes to her stress-filled week. The male execs are hostile to her marketing ideas, she’s sending her only son off to college, and she catches her “man-child” rock star wannabe hubby Paul (Tim Daish) with a really enthusiastic “fan”. Bianca is insistent that Kristin hops on a plane to attend her grandfather’s funeral. After a bit of nudging from her lawyer pal Jenny (Sophis Nomvete), Kristin is in Italy enjoying a “meet cute” with hunky Lorenzo (Giulio Corso). It’s cut short when her new “bodyguards” rush her to the church for the memorial. And then the coffin’s processional is attacked by a hit squad from the rival Romano family. Luckily Kristin’s crew makes it back to the family villa where Bianca insists that Kristin meet with the Romano “head”, since the late elder Balbano, via a DVD will, has given his title to his only granddaughter, much to the ire of hotheaded cousin Fabrizio (Eduardo Scarpetta), who wants to run the “family business”. Kristin wants none of this, but the sooner she can broker peace, the sooner she can get with Lorenzo. This leads to a couple of attempts on her life as this unexpected “getaway” turns into a gang war that may just spill over into the States and threaten her boy. Maybe with Bianca’s consul, Kristin can bring honor to her tarnished legacy.

Over the last few decades, Toni Collette has firmly established herself as one of the most accomplished character actors in film. She commands the screen in drama and horror, but she’s had little chance to headline a comedy. The role of Kristen provides that with a great deal of slapstick and screwball. Unfortunately, she can’t make the poorly written script’s heroine work as she flits about like a frenzied teen in much of the first hour, popping her eyes wildly and gesturing frantically and sounding like a manic “figgerygibbit”. Kristin is more of a comedy construct than a believable mature career woman as she spews out the wrong thing in every setting, funerals, gunbattles, dates, wherever. As a grounded counterpart, Bellucci exudes a sultry earthy sexiness recalling Sophia and Gina, though she only pops in to put Kristin on the right track. Nomvete is the sassy rom-com stereotype there to push Kristin to “Go, gurlfriend!!”, and brings some needed energy. Daish is the dim hubby dragging Kristin down making it easier for her to “hook up” with Corso amongst others. And Scarpetta struts and swaggers as the always aggressive Fabrizio, who just loves to scream in his enemy’s faces during the showdowns.

Wow, this is a long way from the “sparkly” teen vamps of TWILIGHT. Yes, it’s the same Catherine Hardwicke, who’s trying her hand at screwball saucy comedy. And due to the lackluster, meandering script, it’s a “swing and a miss”. Mind you, it’s not that the “genre mash-up” doesn’t work. Way back in 1935 Edward G Robinson had some fun with his gangster persona in A SLIGHT CASE OF MURDER. And in the post-GODFATHER (Kristin’s never watched it…hilarious) it’s worked with MARRIED TO THE MOB and the ANALYZE flicks, but this strained farce isn’t even up to the level of 1998’s MAFIA! (from part of the ZAZ team). The story never seems to follow through on anything, as it tosses out different motivations and agendas. It veers into the area of a “woman’s awakening” as the put-upon Kristin finds her “calling” in the vineyard (yes, she stomps grapes ala Lucy) and then funnels low-cost meds for seniors (really). And though much of the shootouts are bloodless (lots of grazing), there’s a very graphic set piece where Kristin is threatened with sexual assaults before a Tarantino-esque gorefest with lots of eye trauma (and do we need to see a barfed-on cell phone). Plus there is a suggested blossoming romance between the female leads that is tossed aside (perhaps that’s why all the men, aside from Kristin’s son, are dullards or braying bullies). Maybe it’s just a way to reveal Bianca’s silly secret to be exploited in the big last act face-off. Sure, the locations are gorgeous, and the food looks delicious, but it doesn’t soften the sound of the jokes falling flat on those ancient cobblestones. Collette and Bellucci are deserving of a much better screen pairing. With apologies to Abba, MAFIA MAMMA, oh mamma mia! Or as the characters respond to an enemy’s name in unison in a lousy running (literal) gag: ptewy!!

One Half Out of Four

MAFIA MAMMA is now playing in select theatres

EASY DOES IT (2019) – Review

Who’s up for a road trip? I’m guessing most folks are, after being cooped up for much of this year. Well, since things aren’t quite back to normal, perhaps a cinematic one would fill the bill. Maybe a state to state jaunt would be in order, with a somewhat shady duo behind the wheel ala’ SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT or THELMA AND LOUISE, perhaps just indulging in an occasional “dine ‘n’ dash” or a “fill-up and flee”. Oh, and aside from the authorities, some roughnecks are on your trail. That’s the elements of the new comic crime caper EASY DOES IT. But with these dimwits churning up dust, nothing is ever easy (especially for the audience).


Down in Mississippi, in the down and dirty alleys and side streets, we meet the story’s two “heroes” as they try to run the old “fight scam”. Jack (Ben Matheny) and Scottie (Matthew Paul Martinez) are going to “duke it out” as the local deplorables place bets on the outcome. When a gentle tap KO’s Scottie, the crowd gets “wise. Luckily the two make a getaway, but without the moola. This upsets their boss at the “greasy spoon”, who has put in his own money. Actually it’s a loan from local crime kingpin King George (Linda Hamilton). The “fightin'” duo barely escape her enforcer “Blue Eyes” (Susan Gordon) as they return to their trailer. In the mail is a postcard from Jack’s mother in San Clemente, CA. It’s a cryptic message: “If you get this, I’m dead. But I left you something under the pier”. Ah ha, sunken treasure, no doubt thinks Jack. After another brush with Blue Eyes the next morning, Jack and Scottie hop in their beaten-up Mustang (?) to head west. But they’ve no funds, so they try to rip-off a local gas station. When that goes “sideways” they take a hostage, the timid salesman Collin (Corey Dumesnil). As the trio begins their trail of petty thievery they attract the attention of the press. Of course, the story makes it to Texas, where Chief Parker (Dwight Henry) and the strutting Officer Owen (Bryan Batt) vow to capture them. With those determined lawmen and Blue Eyes still in pursuit, can Jack, Scottie, and now Collin reach that state of sun, sand, and hidden loot?

I suppose we should begin with the biggest “name” star (as you see below, she’s a good quarter of the poster). Hamilton does give it her best effort with basically a “one-note” character. King starts out angry and continues to fume until her final fade-out. After a brief early sequence in “the vehicle” with Blue and the boys, Hamilton spends the rest of the flick growling into a princess phone while smoking a stogie and pacing about, dressed in one of Edward G. Robinson’s old suits, in a room with tacky furniture and garish purple (yech) walls. It was hoped that her return to the Terminator franchise last year would mark a new entry to interesting film roles, but this unwieldy caricature (cornrows, yeah) is beneath her. I was also familiar with one other actor, Batt who was the beloved, mush missed Salvatore in the early seasons of TV’s “Mad Men”. His role is nearly as cartoonish as he puffs out his chest, boasts of his policing skills, and sports a ‘stache that looks like the “face fur” of Ron Swanson, Thomas Magnum, and Ron Burgundy entangled in a follicle orgy. As for the flick’s main focus, Methany tries to bring a likable Harold Hill conman quality to Jack, but he often comes off as a motor-mouthed, preening, puffy (always working on a joint) dimbulb. But he’s a mastermind compared to Martinez as the hyper-active wide-eyed doofus that is Scottie. His “quirk” is yelling his lines in extreme close-up (often bragging of his Native American heritage), as he slathers latex house paint on his face (no scenes of him trying to remove the sticky, gummy stuff with a turpentine scrubbing). Things don’t pick up as the duo becomes a trio with the addition of Dumesnil as the annoyingly awkward Collin, who appears to have time-traveled from the ABC sitcom classic “Room 222” where he was a “guest star” substitute teacher trying to gain the respect of his students (and the attention of Karen Valentine’s Alice Johnson, no doubt). We’re made to think that Jack And Scottie have “loosened” him up (aided by lotsa’ weed and booze), but he remains an irritating “nerd” cliche. As for their pursuer (think a punk blonde Wile E. Coyote brandishing a Louisville slugger), Gordon fiddles with her transistor radio, hearing baseball play by play relayed by John Goodman (aping Jack Buck) and the news read by Harry Shearer (not Kent Brockman), as she glowers and slams her black leather gloves together in frustration, in an attempt to be menacing.

And who’s the ringleader of this merry band of misfits? First-time feature director Will Addison, who also co-wrote (whoa, there was a script) the film with star Methany. He straddles the line between cloying pretension as the story stops dead several times for arty little monologues that look to have been shot in 8 mm ( the picture becomes a small square in the screen’s center) in which the characters spout off about their dreams and beliefs, and forced Coen brothers-inspired zaniness with lots of jump-cuts, slo-mo, extreme close-ups, and spinning cinematography (a bit of Barry Sonnenfeld perhaps), all in an attempt to keep us interested and make the story seem “edgy’ and fresh. Epic fails on both counts. The attempts at whimsy fall flat especially in the fantasies of their “gas scams” and in the bits of “arty” animation as the buzzed trio see their bottle rockets morph into obliging ladies. And to spice it up a bit Scottie gets “nekid”. A final showdown in the desert might be a tribute to Russ Meyer, but it just reminds us that he did it with much more skill and style nearly 50 years ago. With grating characters, a witless screenplay, and clunky direction, EASY DOES IT is really hard to get through. Really hard. After 90 minutes of this road trip, the living room couch doesn’t seem so bad.

0 Out of 4

EASY DOES IT opens in select theatres and is available as a Video On Demand on most cable and satellite systems, along with many digital streaming apps and platforms