Main Cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Modine, Dean Stockwell, Mercedes Ruehl, Alec Baldwin
Release Year: 1988
Country: US
Run Time: 102 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Michelle Pfeiffer is Married to the Mob in this comedy. The wife of Mafia hitman Alec Baldwin, Pfeiffer regularly chastizes her husband for his underhanded line of work. Baldwin refuses to entertain any thoughts of quitting the mob-and besides, he's got a good thing going with Nancy Travis, the promiscuous girl friend of gang boss Dean Stockwell. When Stockwell catches on to Travis' peccadilloes, he murders both his mistress and the unlucky Baldwin. At Baldwin's funeral, Stockwell is overwhelmed by Pfeiffer's beauty, and immediately begins plying her with expensive gifts. But Pfeiffer is through with this sort of thing, and with her young son in tow, she leaves town, hoping to start life anew. Upon making the acquaintance of bumbling, seemingly sincere Matthew Modine, Pfeiffer is convinced that Modine is just another mob flunkey. But it's even worse: Modine is an FBI agent, ordered to get to Stockwell by using Pfeiffer as bait. Reluctantly (he's grown quite fond of her himself), Modine blackmails Pfeiffer into setting up a rendezvous with Stockwell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The tone of Jonathan Demme's gangster comedy Married to the Mob comes very close to being too over-the-top for its own good, but the superb cast pulls it off without a hitch. Michelle Pfeiffer, with a heavy New York Italian accent, and Matthew Modine, as the so square-he's-hip Fed trailing her, do a fine job of both being funny and portraying the tentative beginnings of a new romance. But it is Dean Stockwell as the mob boss and Mercedes Ruehl as his very suspicious wife who walk off with the film. An authentic Italian-American, Brian De Palma, could not achieve this same balance of wackiness in his mob comedy Wise Guys, showing how difficult it is to successfully get laughs out of such extreme characters in a setting as threatening as the mafia. The material in Married to the Mob is so exaggerated that Italian-Americans could have found it offensive (especially since Demme is not Italian), but his abiding love of his characters, even the crazy ones, stands out above everything else making this light comedy one of the most enjoyable, if least essential, films of Demme's fantastic career. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Joan Cusack - Rose Boyle; Trey Wilson - Franklin, FBI Field Director; Oliver Platt - Ed Benitez; Paul Lazar - Tommy Boyle; Sister Carol East - Rita Harcourt; Ellen Foley - Theresa; Chris Isaak - Arrowhead "The Clown"; O-Lan Jones - Phyllis; Charles Napier - Ray, Angela's Hairdresser; Anthony J. Nici - Joey DeMarco; Nancy Travis - Karen Lutnick; David Johansen - Priest; Al Lewis - Uncle Joe Russo; Frank Ferrara - Vinnie the Slug; Frank Gio - Nick "The Snake"; Gary Klar - Al "The Worm"; Obba Babatunde - Face of Justice; Roy Blount, Jr. - Humane Reporter; Gene Borkan - Goodwill Executive; Billy Carter - Ambassador; Ellie Cornell - Pushy Reporter; Daniel Dassin - Matire D'; Angela de Marco; Tony Fitzpatrick - Sourpuss Immigration Man; Alison Gordy - Chicken Lickin' Feminist; Captain Haggerty - Fat Man; Buzz Kilman - Ruthless Sniper; Roma Maffia - Angie's First Customer; Colin Quinn - Homicide Detective; Joe Spinell - Leonard "Tiptoes" Mazzilli; Tracey Walter - Chicken' Lickin' Mgr.; Marlene Willoughby - Mrs. "Fat Man"; Jonathan Demme; Gary Goetzman - Guy at the Piano; Warren Miller - Johnny "King's Roost" King; Todd Solondz - Zany Reporter; Kenneth Utt - Sourpuss F.B.I. Man; Frank Acquilino - Conductor; Jason Allen - Tony Russo, Jr.; Ralph Corsel - Jimmy "Fisheggs" Roe; Dodie Demme - Pigs Knuckles Shopper; Wilma Dore - Uptown Saleslady; Tara Duckworth - Tara; Luis Alberto Garcia - Honeymoon Suite Bellboy; Carlos Giovanni - Carlo Whispers; Janet Howard - Abused Stewardess; Lezli Jae - Chicken Lickin' Server; Joseph L. "Mr. Spoons" Jones - Mr. Spoons; Maria Karnilova - Frank's Mom; Stanton D. Miranda - Gal at the Piano; Tim O'Connell - Abused Ticket Agent; Carlos Anthony Ocasio - Joey's New Pal; Pe De Boi - Samba Band; James Reno Pelliccio - Butch; Patrick Phipps - Goodwill Hunk; Suzanne Puccerella - Three-card Monte Victim; George "Red" Schwartz - Shotgun Marshal; Steve Vignari - Stevarino; Arthur Haggerty
Credit
Maher Ahmad - Art Director, Ron Bozman - Associate Producer, Howard Feuer - Associate Producer, Edward Saxon - Co-producer, Kenneth Utt - Co-producer, Colleen Atwood - Costume Designer, Ron Bozman - First Assistant Director, Howard Feuer - First Assistant Director, Jonathan Demme - Director, Craig McKay - Editor, Joel Simon - Executive Producer, Bill Todman, Jr. - Executive Producer, David Byrne - Composer (Music Score), Stuart Arbright - Songwriter, David Bean - Songwriter, William Berg - Songwriter, Geraldine Berry - Songwriter, Steve Breck - Songwriter, Jane Child - Songwriter, James Donna - Songwriter, Black Francis - Songwriter, Chris Frantz - Songwriter, Bill Garvey - Songwriter, Gary Goetzman - Songwriter, A. Gourdine - Songwriter, Lawrence Grennan - Songwriter, Mildred J. Hill - Songwriter, Patty S. Hill - Songwriter, Chris Isaak - Songwriter, Jean Jacques - Songwriter, Willie Lemon - Songwriter, Ziggy Marley - Songwriter, Glenn Mercer - Songwriter, Robert Merrill - Songwriter, Bill Milling - Songwriter, New Order - Songwriter, Sinéad O'Connor - Songwriter, Clark Parent - Songwriter, Marco Pirroni - Songwriter, Nina Ramsey - Songwriter, Reggi Stewart - Songwriter, E. Wright - Songwriter, Jorge Ben Jor - Songwriter, Bernadette Mazur - Makeup, Kristi Zea - Production Designer, Tak Fujimoto - Cinematographer, Ron Bozman - Producer, Bill Todman, Jr. - Producer, Don Ivey - Set Designer, Nina Ramsey - Set Designer, Efex Specialists, Inc. - Special Effects, Christopher Newman - Sound/Sound Designer, Frank Ferrara - Stunts, John Robotham - Stunts, Mark R. Burns - Screenwriter, Barry Strugatz - Screenwriter
Married to the Mob was Jonathan Demme's follow-up to Something Wild and may not have been as fresh as that film, but the soundtrack makes up for it. Drawing from previously released material as much as brand new songs, the soundtrack begins with Sinéad O'Connor's "Jump in the River," a rocker that sets the tone for the film's mix of danger and fun. Tracks run from playful to brooding, with the most peculiar song, "Goodbye Horses" by Q. Lazzarus, sounding like the Associates meets OMD. Chris Isaak's early cut "Suspicion of Love" hints at his later success. But the winner is Brian Eno's cover of William Bell's "You Don't Miss Your Water," which at the time marked Eno's first vocal recording in many a year. Still not easy to find, the CD is worth hunting out in used bins for this track alone. ~ Ted Mills, All Music Guide
The Feelies (Performer), Debbie Harry (Performer), Chris Isaak (Performer), New Order (Producer), New Order (Performer), Tom Tom Club (Performer), Jonathan Demme (Executive Producer), Brian Eno (Producer), Brian Eno (Performer), Chris Frantz (Producer), Gary Goetzman (?), Stephen Hague (Producer), Erik Jacobsen (Producer), Daniel Lanois (Guitar), Ziggy Marley (Performer), Glenn Mercer (Producer), Bill Million (Producer), Sinéad O'Connor (Producer), Sinéad O'Connor (Performer), Steve Rinkoff (Producer), Tina Weymouth (Producer), Stuart Arbright (Producer), William Barg (Producer), Steve Breck (Producer), William J. Garvey (Producer), Tom Coyne (Engineer), Mike Chapman (Producer), Sharon Boyle (?), Glenn Parsons (Design), Pablo Ferro (Design), Q. Lazzarus (Producer), Q. Lazzarus (Performer), Edward Saxon (Associate Producer), David Skemick (Cover Design), Ken Regan (Cover Design), Sandy Tanaka (?)
Michelle Pfeiffer, in something of a departure from her previous roles, gave an acclaimed lead performance as a gangster's widow from Brooklyn, opposite Matthew Modine as the undercover FBI agent assigned the task of investigating her mafia connections.
Angela de Marco (Michelle Pfeiffer) is the wife of mafia up-and-comer Frank "The Cucumber" de Marco (Alec Baldwin), who gets violently dispatched by Mob boss Tony "The Tiger" Russo (Dean Stockwell) when he is discovered in a compromising situation with the latter's mistress Karen (Nancy Travis). Angela wants to escape the whole crime scene with her son, but is harrassed by Tony who puts the moves on her at Frank's funeral. This clinch earns her the suspicion of FBI agents Mike Downey (Matthew Modine) and Ed Benitez (Oliver Platt), and also of Tony's ball-busting wife Connie (Mercedes Ruehl), who repeatedly confronts Angela with accusations of stealing her husband. To further complicate things, Mike Downey is assigned to monitor all of Angela's movements as part of an undercover surveillance operation, but cannot resist becoming romantically involved with Angela himself. Angela's attempts to break away from the Mob result in comic mayhem and a climactic showdown in a honeymoon suite in Miami.
Married to the Mob received a largely positive response from critics, and currently holds an 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes[1] and a score of 71 on Metacritic.[2]
Janet Maslin in the New York Times wrote that "Married to the Mob works best as a wildly overdecorated screwball farce... it also plays as a gentle romance, and as the story of a woman trying to re-invent her life."[3] The Washington Post described the film as "all decked out in Godfather kitsch, but underneath its loud exterior, a complex heroine struggles for freedom."[4]Variety called the film "fresh, colorful and inventive."[5]Time Out wrote that although the film was "relentlessly shallow, the performances, music and gaudy visuals provide a fizzy vitality for which many other directors would give their right arm."[6]Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times gave a more lukewarm review, but ended positively: "Still, Married to the Mob is loaded with wonderful offbeat touches... [and] most assuredly doesn't lack soul."[7]
Jonathan Demme's direction was praised for its idiosyncrasy. The New York Times called him "American cinema's king of amusing artifacts: blinding bric-a-brac, the junkiest of jewelry, costumes so frightening they take your breath away."[3] The Washington Post wrote that "Jonathan Demme has nailed one with this playful, but dangerous, gangster farce."[4]
The acting performances were widely acclaimed, especially that of Michelle Pfeiffer in a star-making turn, "her best performance to date."[7]Richard Corliss in Time wrote that Pfeiffer was the "emotional anchor to his [Demme's] vertiginous sight gags."[8]Variety claimed the "enormous cast is a total delight, starting with Pfeiffer."[5] The Washington Post called Pfeiffer a "deft comedian... It's her movie, and she graces it."[4]Matthew Modine was "winning," according to Variety.[5]
Supporting players Dean Stockwell and Mercedes Ruehl also received praise for their performances. The Washington Post described Ruehl's character as "majestic in her jealousy, stealing scenes but never the show from the sweetly determined Pfeiffer."[4] Maslin in the New York Times thought that Pfeiffer and Modine were "readily upstaged by Miss Ruehl and, especially, by Mr. Stockwell. His shoulder-rolling caricature of this suave, foppish and thoroughly henpecked kingpin is the film's biggest treat."[3]Variety described Stockwell as "a hoot."[5]
