Directed By Catherine Hardwicke

Starring – Toni Collette, Monica Bellucci, Sophia Nomvete

The Plot – An American mom (Collette) inherits her grandfather’s mafia empire in Italy. Guided by the firm’s consigliere (Bellucci), she hilariously defies everyone’s expectations as the new head of the family business.

Rated R for bloody violence, sexual content and adult language

MAFIA MAMMA | Official Trailer | Bleecker Street – YouTube

POSITIVES

Toni Collette is far too good to be in this movie, but that doesn’t stop her from handing in a humbling of humanity that not only plays terrifically towards her fish out of water spectacle of a homemaker becoming the head of the Italian mafia, complete with her own spontaneous awkwardness often getting the best of those around her, but also a return to comedy for her that she feels seamlessly comfortable within. While the material doesn’t do her a lot of favors in showing off her precision in comedic timing, Collette still rises to the occasion with a naturalistic element of humility that serves her and the magnitude of the Mafia well, especially since we the audience are essentially living through her. Aside from Collette, the production is also blessed with an immersive element of its filmmaking that wholeheartedly takes advantage of its on-site location, with a surveiling style of cinematography that lavishes at the combination of Italian scenery and 19th century architecture, but also a geographic relevance in the pungent familiarity of Alex Heffes’ violin-driven score. Both of these elements easily afford permanence to the depths of the film’s mainstay in setting from about ten minutes in, but beyond that audibly pay homage to genre classics like “The Godfather”, which is mentioned more than a couple of times cleverly throughout the engagement.

NEGATIVES

Who is this movie made for? My original theory was for wine mom’s everywhere who consistently engage in the daytime fantasies that help alleviate the dissatisfaction of their realities, but the longer that “Mafia Mamma” transpired, the more that sentiment is eviscerated with multiple brands of incoherent humor that do nothing to compliment the sum of their parts. Mom porn is certainly nothing new or condemning to the creativity of an idea, and if graded on the plot alone, then this film could’ve had potential. Unfortunately, the multitude of gags are underwhelming and ineffective, with sitcom levels of pandering and desparation that not only telegraph the punchlines from miles away, but also do their best to alienate the male audiences who may be forced to endure what this movie has to throw at them for a date night. So we have these annoying kind of gags that often lend themselves to on-the-nose Italian stereotypes, with supporting characters who feel plucked from an expedition episode of “Saved By the Bell”, but also balanced in tow with these extremely graphic instances of violent brutality that feel like an entirely different director has taken over the film when Hardwicke decided to go to the bathroom. The action itself could be commendable if it was shot or executed with any kind of believability or grit, but some arduous editing techniques and claustrophobic photography proximity leaves it feeling a bit nauseating and obscured in execution, with the worst kind of computer-generated blood to continuously spurt at its disposal. Beyond this, the script itself isn’t anything entertaining or exceptional, with a bottom heavy imbalance that doesn’t hook audiences in any kind of way that feels original or compelling from word go. Because the third act is so jammed pack with predictable swerves, interjecting subplots and as many as three endings, it makes those 35 minutes feel a bit frenetic when held in tow with the rest of the film, especially the opening act, which refuses to waste time setting the plot in motion, but then lays dormant and even aimless for the better part of the next 40 minutes of our protagonist’s so-called evolution. On that aspect, the arc of Collette’s Kristin is given ample time to shine, but never committted towards fully fleshing out her character’s internal conflicts in ways that capably call to the woman she eventually becomes, cementing surface level characterization that even the film’s central protagonist can’t properly evade. Finally, the direction of Hardwicke even cause a bit more backlash than the film necessarily needed, particularly in the steering of her ensemble, which often emitted a few glaring instances of unnatural interaction during specific moments of defining circumstance. One scene that echoes such is early on in the film where Kristin finds out her husband is cheating on her, and she responds like she just stubbed her toe. People could certainly lend this instance to her own reality being constantly on auto-pilot, but the dialogue itself during it isn’t any more natural or conductive, outlining an undercooked emphasis in honesty that directly undercut the tension and momentum in her character’s conflict.

OVERALL
“Mafia Mamma” is an offer that’s easy to refuse, thanks in part to contradictive direction, underwhelming humor and humiliating stereotypes that makes this film feel thirty years outdated long before it even gets going. While the unshakeable commitment from Collette’s performance garners investment and even apathy for a character often overrun by life, the film she’s accommodating rests a bit too heavily on the fantastical element of its wine mother fantasy, leaving this another in the pile of disappointing returns for Hardwicke that isn’t even close to bulletproof.

My Grade: 4/10 or D