Married to the Mob (1988)

The rather sudden death, in the bathtub, of her mafiosi husband "Frank" (Alec Baldwin) gives his widow "Angela" (Michelle Pfeiffer) the chance to break free from his criminal world and live her own life. Ha! Some hope. His erstwhile boss "Tony" (Dean Stockwell) has always had a soft spot for her and now the coast is clear, he decides to rather forcefully press his suit - despite the fact that he's already married to her sister "Connie" (the frequently scene stealing Mercedes Ruehl). Not having her problems to seek, things only get worse for "Angela" when the FBI hove into view, hoping to coax/cajole/coerce her into helping them fit up her new suitor. They've had the rookie "Mike" (Matthew Modine) and has partner "Ed" (Oliver Platt) tailing the late "Frank" for ages, but to no avail. Maybe she can help? What now ensues is a comedic send up of all things "Godfather", only largely told from the perspective of the women involved. Pfeiffer delivers engagingly and the sparingly used Ruehl gives us a clue as to whom "Tony" is really afraid of! Stockwell does the parody role really well here, his dapper, suave murderer routine isn't remotely menacing, but it's good at sending up much of the genre as he proves to be anything but a "tiger". Jonathan Demme piles loads of action and smarted-mouthed wit into this, the humour is a little more subtle and the film flies by. Sure, it's a wee bit dated now with big hair and shoulder pads, but it's still a decent watch.

"Married to the Mob" is a very entertaining film and the mob element does have shades of "Midnight Run" (1988), especially when Angela - she believes she has finally found the normality she has been so desperately seeking with a man called Mike Smith - discovers he is actually an FBI agent and she then becomes reluctantly entangled in an FBI sting operation to arrest crime boss Tony "The Tiger" Russo. The depiction of the mob throughout this film is a ruthless and uncompromising one and it is common knowledge that there is nothing glamorous in the life these well dressed criminals have chosen to lead. It is admittedly a seductive life of extravagant rewards and it can provide an over abundance of indulgent luxuries, but this fool's paradise is fleeting and dangerously illusory.