In 1988, two years after his breakthrough film Something Wild, director Jonathan Demme returned with another mix of offbeat humor and dangerous criminals in this colorful gangster comedy starring Michelle Pfeiffer as Angela de Marco, the frustrated wife of mid-level mobster “Cucumber” Frank de Marco (Alec Baldwin). Matthew Modine costars as Mike Downey, a dedicated and rather unconventional FBI agent on the trail of crime boss Tony “The Tiger” Russo (Dean Stockwell). Despite the comic approach, the underlying culture isn't much different from what Martin Scorsese would present in Goodfellas a few years later—right down to the colorful names, such as Vinnie the Slug, Nick the Snake, and Al the Worm. When the newly widowed Angela moves out of her Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn and into the multicultural Lower East Side of Manhattan, Russo tracks her down, followed by his jealous wife, Connie (Mercedes Ruehl)…and the feds. Demme revs things up with outsized characters and tacky fashions that distinctly collide with the freewheeling spirit at Pfeiffer's new home, which represents a lifestyle that invigorates her in ways the insular mob life never did. Married to the Mob never conveys the sense of danger that made Something Wild so memorable—even death has a slapstick twist here—but it serves up a charismatic performance from Pfeiffer and lots of charm and good humor to keep things bouncing along. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)
Married to the Mob
Kino Lorber, 104 min., R, DVD: $19.95, Blu-ray: $29.95 Volume 30, Issue 1
Married to the Mob
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