Mafia (1998)

“Some would argue that the Mafia is a bad thing, that it uses its power to undermine law and order, to promote the very lowest forms of human behavior. Of course, that's all true, but in the end, maybe it's worth it.” 

                Mafia is one of those movies I cannot for the life of me remember watching for the first time. It has just been in the family collection for years. I knew it was parodying The Godfather but up until a few weeks ago I had never seen The Godfather. That did not mean I never got the references I heard enough about the original since my family is Italian and it is like the Holy Grail of Italian films (How I was not shunned from my family for so long I will never know). Now that I have seen The Godfather I had to watch Mafia since I would finally get all the references. I have not seen Mafia in ages and it was just as hysterical as I remembered it and even better since I knew what they were making fun of.

            Honestly I do not even know what to write about in this review because I do not want to give too much away the movie is just so hysterical. Literally every scene has something to laugh at. One of my favorite parts of the film is the flashback scene of the father Don Cortino when he was still in Italy as a little boy. Now in The Godfather II Don Corleone escapes the country by traveling in the basket attached to a donkey. Well in the parody Don Cortino gets put up a donkey’s behind! I die laughing every time in that scene. Don Cortino is a clumsy fool he falls all over the place or hitting people. The son that is like Sonny Corleone is Joey whose hot headedness is played up to the nth degree. The son like Michael Corleone is Anthony (Jay Mohr, his name is after Michael’s son). His girlfriend is a non-Italian girl named Diane (Christina Applegate, get it her name is Diane like Diane Keaton).

            My brother Joey (and I have a brother Anthony haha) comes close to peeing himself senseless at the funeral scene. When we watched it together he was laughing so hard and he had to rewind it about four times. Joey has loved this movie forever and quotes some of the lines like every day.

            Movies like Mafia make me miss the real spoof movies. Unlike today’s so called “spoof” movies Mafia and Mel Brooks’ films were silly without going over the top. The writers for Mafia picked out the most memorable parts of The Godfather and just ran with them. Some of the scenes and the lines and the silliness comes so fast but when you catch them you laugh so hard. As an Italian (with some other nationalities thrown in but mostly Italian) I do not find this movie degrading to Italian culture at all. Each culture has their stereotypes and stereotypes are based on truths. Mafia is not a spoof or comedy movie to be missed. I think it is hard to find on DVD but in my research I found the entire movie on Youtube so get over there now and watch it!! (I think it is under Jane Austen’s Mafia on Youtube.)