I’ve seen several movies on television recently. The last few weeks have been busy and I haven’t had a chance to rent as many movies. I’ve seen some movies that I’ve never seen before, and I’ve seen a few that I have seen before. Married to the Mob is a movie that I just watched again on television. I had seen it several years ago when it first came out on VHS, but I hadn’t seen it since. I was flipping through the channels looking for something to watch and I found it. I remembered that I had liked the movie when I first saw it, so I decided to watch it again.

PLOT

Frank DeMarco was a member of the Mob. His nickname was The Cucumber. He murdered a man on a train full of people and no one saw him do it. Tony Russo was his boss. Tony’s nickname was Tiger. Angela and Frank had been married for several years and have a seven-year-old son named Joey. Angela was unhappy with their life and didn’t like that Frank was in the Mob. She told him she wanted a divorce.

FBI agents Mike Downey and Ed Benitez had Tony under surveillance. Tony and Frank were both sleeping with the same woman, Karen. She was a waitress at a restaurant where Tony had a meeting with members of his organization. Tony was upset when he found out about Karen and Frank. Those two ended up dead. Mike and Ed were investigating the murders. Mike thought that Tony was involved, so they continued to watch him. Tony started putting the moves on Angela right after Frank’s funeral. He didn’t believe that she wasn’t interested in him. Mike saw Tony kiss Angela and assumed that she was enjoying it. Pictures were taken of the kiss, which Mike showed to his boss. They decided that Angela was Tony’s mistress and that she may have been involved in getting rid of Frank. Mike and Ed started to watch Angela. Tony continued to pursue Angela, giving Joey presents, and leaving gifts for Angela at her house.

Tony was married to Connie. She was very jealous of any woman who she thought was after Tony. She seemed to think that every woman around was after her husband. She knew that Tony was interested in Angela, and Connie assumed that Angela felt the same way about Tony. Connie wouldn’t believe that Angela didn’t want anything to do with Tony. Connie assumed that Angela and Tony were having an affair. Connie threatened Angela more than once because of that. Wives of other Mob members helped Connie to corner and confront Angela in the grocery store once.

Even before Frank had been killed, Angela had been trying to distance herself and her son from the Mob. She stopped spending time with the other wives. She turned down invitations to dinner and didn’t tell Frank about them. She didn’t want her son growing up around the mob and was furious when Joey found Frank’s gun. After Frank died, Angela still couldn’t seem to escape the Mob. Angela didn’t want anything to do with them anymore. She donated all of her things, including her house and her car, to charity. She and Joey moved into a rundown apartment. There was a bathtub in the kitchen. Angela looked for a job, and eventually found one at a beauty shop across the street from her new apartment.

Angela didn’t tell anyone where she was going, but Tony managed to track her down. He had her followed and turned up at her new apartment. He was still after Angela to have an affair with him. He didn’t understand why she wasn’t interested in him. Mike and Angela met one day. Mike said he lived in the same building on a different floor. They started to spend some time together. Connie also tracked down Angela and was convinced that she and Tony were having an affair.

Mike was confused by Angela’s move and her new job. At first he still thought that she was mixed up with Tony, so he really didn’t understand why she was willing to live is a lousy apartment instead of the nice home she left. Mike thought that she was nice. They went out on a date and Mike developed feelings for Angela. Others in the FBI continued to think that she was still mixed up with Tony and Mob business somehow. Connie continued to think that Tony was sneaking around to sleep with Angela, so Connie popped up looking for him at different times. More men in Tony’s organization were turning up dead. The FBI was very interested in what was going on.

CAST

Michelle Pfeiffer - Angela DeMarco
Matthew Modine - Mike Downey
Dean Stockwell - Tony ‘The Tiger’ Russo
Mercedes Ruehl - Connie Russo
Oliver Platt - Ed Benitez
Alec Baldwin - Frank ‘The Cucumber’ DeMarco
Anthony J Nici - Joey DeMarco
Carol - Rita Hartcourt
Paul Lazar - Tommy Boyle
Joan Cusack - Rose Boyle
Nancy Travis - Karen
Trey Wilson - FBI Regional Director Franklin
Chris Isaak - Arrowhead the Clown
Colin Quinn - Homicide Detective

Jonathan Demme - Director

Written by Barry Strugatz and Mark R. Burns

Married to the Mob was made in 1988. The movie was 103 minutes long and rated R for violence, language, and some sexual situations. When I recently watched the movie again, it was on television so it was edited. There was still some violence left in the movie though. This is not a movie children should see. It could be ok for older children to see the edited version that airs on television, but parents should watch it first to make a decision on that.

It had been several years since the last time I saw Married to the Mob, so I had forgotten some things about the movie. I did remember that I had enjoyed the movie, so that was why I decided to watch it again. I enjoyed it this time when I watched it too. It was an entertaining movie. I think it is a dark comedy. There were some funny moments in the movie, and there were some dark, violent moments in the movie as well. Since some parts of the movie are dark, some people may not like it. This was not a screwball comedy, but it wasn’t really a serious movie either. It didn’t make me think. I just enjoyed watching it. The movie was fairly fast paced with several things happening, but it didn’t seem rushed.

There were some funny moments in Married to the Mob, but it wasn’t a hilarious movie. Some things that weren’t meant to be funny, like some of the outfits worn and some of the hairstyles, made me laugh at times. Most of the women characters had big hair. Some had very big hair. Angela started out with big hair, but then she did get a different hairstyle, so her hair wasn’t really big anymore. Those were the current hairstyles when the movie was made, but they make me laugh a bit now. I also thought it was funny that there was a bathtub in the kitchen of Angela’s new apartment. At different times in the movie, Mike wore a disguise, and some of them were funny looking.

There was violence throughout Married to the Mob. Several people turned up dead. Within the first few minutes of the movie, Frank killed a man. Shortly after that, Frank and the woman he was having an affair with turned up dead. Other members of Tony’s organization started to turn up dead. There were several shoot outs in the movie. The violence did seem a bit excessive at times. When I watched the movie this time, it was edited since it was on television, but there was still a lot of violence left in the movie. Some people will probably think that the movie is too violent. Young children should definitely not see the movie. It could be ok for older children to see the version that has been edited for television, but parents should watch the movie to make that decision since it was still rather violent. There was swearing in the movie, but most of it was edited out when I saw the movie this time. Since this was the first time I’d seen the movie in a long time, I can’t remember if the word that rhymes with luck was in the unedited version of the movie or not.

There were some sexual situations in Married to the Mob. There weren’t any actual sex scenes in the movie when I watched it on television. There was some skin shown, but no nudity. I can’t remember now if there was nudity or any actual sex scenes in the R-rated version of the movie. There was a small amount of romance provided by the developing relationship between Mike and Angela. Tony was chasing after Angela and trying to get her to have an affair with him, but she wasn’t interested in him at all, so that didn’t really add any romance to the movie.

The acting in Married to the Mob was really good. Michelle Pfeiffer was wonderful as Angela. She was believable as a mother who wanted a better life for her son. She had a strong accent throughout the movie. I think it was supposed to be a Brooklyn accent, but since I’ve never been there or known anyone from there, I don’t know how accurate it was. She did keep the accent throughout the movie. Michelle looked a bit different from what I’m use to her looking like since she had dark curly hair. At the beginning of the movie, she had big hair. She did get a shorter hairstyle during the movie, but it stayed dark. Angela was a bit different from some of the other roles Michelle had played. When I think of her, I usually think of her as playing classy and elegant women. I know she has played other parts, but that is what I think of. Several characters she has played over the years have had a class to them. Angela wasn’t like that. Married to the Mob came out the same year as Tequila Sunrise and Dangerous Liaisons, two other movies that Michelle was in. She played three very different roles in those movies, which helped to show her range as an actress. I’ve seen all three of these movies, and she was very good in all them. I think that 1988 was around the time when she started to get more recognition as an actress.

There were other talented actors in Married to the Mob. Matthew Modine was good as Mike, a sometimes bumbling FBI agent. I’ve seen him in a few other movies, but he never became a really popular actor. I had forgotten that Alec Baldwin had been in this movie. He only had a few scenes, but he was very good in them. Frank was a mob hit man, so was violent at times. He was cheating on Angela, but he did seem to care about her. Frank was a bad guy, and Alec is good at playing bad guys.

Dean Stockwell did a good job as Tony. I’d also forgotten that he was in the movie. I’ve mainly only seen him play Al on Quantum Leap, so Tony was different. He was not a nice guy. It was a little strange to see him play a part like that, but he was really good. I liked Mercedes Ruehl. She gave a good performance as Connie, Tony’s very jealous wife. She didn’t have many scenes, and she was mostly having some sort of jealousy induced fit when she did show up in the movie, but she was good. Connie got a little hysterical at times, but it was believable for her character. The singer Chris Isaak had a small role as an employee of a fast food restaurant dressed as a clown.

CHARACTERS

Angela - She was married to Frank, a hit man for the mob. Angela was not happy with her life. She didn’t like what Frank did. She wanted her son away from that life. She wanted away from it. Frank was murdered, and Angela decided to move away to start over. She was determined to make it away from the mob family, but they kept showing up. She ended up in a few situations that she had to deal with. She was a very loving mother who wanted a safer life for her son.

Frank - Angela’s husband. He worked for Tony. Frank was a hit man. He seemed to enjoy his job and wanted to do things to move up in the family. He got upset when Angela didn’t want to have dinner with people he worked with or do things with the other wives. He wasn’t as concerned about their son growing up around the mob, though he did seem a bit upset when Joey found his gun. Frank did seem to care for his wife, but he was having an affair.

Joey - Angela and Frank’s son. He had started to run cons on other children to get money from them. He didn’t fully understand why he and his mom were moving.

Tony - Frank’s boss and head of a crime family in the mob. He had people killed at times. He could be violent. He was married, but he slept around. Right after Frank died, Tony started hitting on Angela to have an affair with him. He didn’t like it that Angela moved away and he tracked her down to continue pursuing her. He didn’t want to take no for an answer.

Connie - Tony’s wife. She was very jealous. She thought that all women were after Tony, that he was irresistible. She was convinced that Angela was after Tony.

Mike - An FBI agent who had been watching Tony. Once Frank was murdered, the FBI assumed that Angela and Tony had plotted the murder together, so Angela was put under surveillance. Mike was a bit disheveled at times, but he was good at his job. Some things about the case didn’t make sense to him, and he was determined to figure out what was going on. He developed feelings for Angela, and wanted to help her.

Ed - Mike’s partner. Ed thought Mike was doing some things he shouldn’t be in the investigation.

Married to the Mob was a good, entertaining movie. It was a bit different, and dark at times, but it is worth watching.




Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older