There are films that you might enjoy despite being aware of their many flaws. One of such guilty pleasures is Married to the Mob, 1988 crime comedy directed by Jonathan Demme.
The plot begins in Long Island, where Frank “Cucumber” De Marco (played by Alec Baldwin) supports his beautiful wife Angela (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) and 7-year old son Joey (played by Anthony J. Nici) by working as enforcer and assassin for mafia boss Tony “The Tiger” Russo (played by Dean Stockwell). While she has a nice suburban home, Angela is increasingly happy with her marriage, feeling guilty over ill-gotten gains and fearing that her husband’s violent lifestyle might endanger the family. Frank proves to be careless and makes fatal mistake by taking to bed Tony's girlfriend Karen Lutnick (played by Nancy Travis). Tony murders them both and immediately begins to court beautiful widow. Angela, however, uses her husband’s demise as an opportunity to leave increasingly oppressive mafia world and moves to Manhattan where she would ultimately find job as a hairdresser in a salon owned by kind-hearted Jamaican immigrant Rita Harcourt (played by “Sister” Carol East). However, even there she is pursued by Tony and stalked by Tony’s pathologically jealous wife Connie (played by Mercedes Ruehl). She is also object of attention of FBI surveillance team that includes Special Agent Mike Downey (played by Matthew Modine) who, in the course of investigation, begins to fall in love with Angela.
Married to the Mob is quirky comedy very much like those that characterised the early part of Jonathan Demme’s career. Apart from very diverse cast, Demme employs some of his old associates like composer David Byrne, who provides light-hearted musical score very much inspired by ethnic diversity of New York, as well as cinematographer Tak Fujimoto, who uses bright colours to give atmosphere of kitcsh in nouveau riche mafia households, as well as enhance melodrama to the comical effect. The diverse cast is very good, especially Dean Stockwell, veteran character actor in a role of a main villain which was rather rare for his career. Pfeiffer, who at the time enjoyed (and still enjoys) reputation of one of the most gorgeous Hollywood actresses, plays the role of Angela with great deal of energy and good sense of comedy, keeping herself attractive despite some questionable choices of costume and hairstyles. Demme directs the film with a lot of energy and pace, not allowing at times complicated plot to stay in way of humour. However, his efforts are impeded with too abrupt tonal shifts between broad comedy and serious crime thriller, which includes rather graphic scenes of violence. The most problematic element of the film is casting of Matthew Modine, who looks the part of FBI agent who wants to do the right thing, but at the same time simply lacks chemistry with Pfeiffer. Despite many entertaining and funny scenes, some viewers might feel disappointed and this impression is enhanced during closing credits, when Demme uses many scenes that were edited out of the finished film. When watching them, it is hard not to think that Married to the Mob could have been much better.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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