Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998)

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

"Airplane!" was new and topical. Disaster movies proliferated in the 1970s, especially those set on airplanes. But "Airplane!" was more than a joke-a-minute spoof. Its vision was scattershot, taking in several genres; and it was more-than-a-joke-a-minute. "Airplane!" threw jokes out wildly. Some failed, but another would be along any moment. No one had made a movie like that since the Marx Brothers, and their work often plays too slow today, because the Marxes tested their jokes before live audiences (in the day before everyone had recording tools or an internet) and they left spaces after the good jokes for laughs that are simply leaden on television.But "Airplane!" and its successors (especially "Police Squad" and its "Naked Gun" franchise spinoffs and the "Hot Shots" movies) led viewers to nestle into our seat expecting to be bowled over from laughs. It was an impossible feat to keep up. "Airplane!" hit the screens in 1980. "Mafia!" (or "Jane Austen's Mafia!" after a rash of Jane Austen flicks) shyly poked its head out in 1998, long enough for viewers to be born and grow up on this humor, and pay for their own tickets to "the next one." Had this movie come out twenty years earlier, when the "Godfather" movies were fairly new and topical, it might have been acclaimed the comedy of the year. Now, it seems like too little (too few jokes) far too late. We have a feeling we've seen it all before.Frankly, as someone who was 18/19 in 1980, when this sort of humor was new, I've grown tired of scatological humor, probably having seen too much of it. Beyond that, the film looks great! The "Godfather II" spoof of the early life of Don Cortino is spot-on, and it's good to see children treated with disrespect. It's the sort of hallmark we've come to expect from Abrahams.Lloyd Bridges (in, unfortunately for us, his last filmed role) plays Cortino as an adult, and "The Godfather"-spoof shots are recreated in loving detail. However, for comic effect (and here's a spoiler), the shooting scene goes on too long, and once started it gets old quickly (though the "Say hello to my little friend" line from "Scarface" was welcome).The rest of the movie follows "The Godfather" and "Godfather II" a little too closely. They needed more silly digressions of the "Airplane!" type. And are there enough jokes, or are we viewers too demanding? Are Abrahams' movies like a drink addiction, where we have to have more and more swigs of it to have the same effect?In any case, it's a long-delayed spoof of gangland movies, but it didn't have the same devastating effect "Airplane!" had on disaster movies by highlighting their innate silliness. Most gangland movies are, at bottom, pretty dumb. Perhaps Abrams and his writers never found the true essence of stupidity at their core and wound up degenerating into a series of pratfalls, as happened with the later "Pink Panther" movies.Lloyd Bridges also tumbled into the snare Leslie Nielsen found. Originally chosen for "Airplane!" because they had never done a funny thing on camera in their lives, playing po-faced versions of their normally straight-laced characters, they leaned more and more on mugging in their later comedy roles, trying to look stupid as well as say illogical lines. It's too bad Peter Sellers died before Abrahams' movies hit the screen. The best slapstick movie comedian since the silent days, Sellers would have felt right at home.So whether Abrahams simply didn't find "The Godfather" and its successors as innately foolish as disaster movies (where's the counterpart to "who didn't have fish for dinner" line?) or whether we as his loyal audience are simply looking for more jokes than a single movie can bear, or whether by 1998 the Farrelly brothers had the hot new thing going ("There's something About Mary" wsa released in the same year as "Mafia!") there's a feeling "Mafia!" simply isn't as much as it could be. That's too bad because it's a good idea, and because "Godfather" sets, clothing and hairstyles are beautifully recreated.

If you go into this, not expecting something other than a parody of the mid 80s to mid 90s, you will be disappointed. Yes, the main parody is of the Godfather, but that's not it. Most of the bad reviews seem to be because of what was missed in the Godfather,and how that could of been so much better, but that's not what the film is only about.Tou cant stop at the Godfather, there are so many other movies and cultural items that are referenced,most of the top blockbusters of the time. the writer is a genius for how it all fits together. i watched this with a few friends and everyone's stomach hurt at the end from laughing so hard

I have seen this title around for years but I think I was a little burned out on the "spoof" comedy so I never got around to it. Actually, I think it was Charlie Sheen in Hot Shots that was the straw that broke the .... Anyway, I cruise by it on Showtime and see Jay Mohr. I have really become a big fan of Jay over the last year from listening to his pod-cast. He is a very funny guy and has an amazing honest and entertaining show twice a week with great guests and a lot of laughs. So I wanted to watch this movie solely to watch Jay in his younger years.This was a good spoof comedy. Jay Mohr was great as was the beautiful Christina Applegate. Great one liners throughout the entire film. I enjoyed it. I would say in summary, "Put your name on it!!!!!!"

The other night I was looking for a movie to watch and I came across Mafia! For the most part, I'm a decent fan of mafia films, I love Goodfellas, Casino, and The Godfather. So a parody seemed like a good idea to me. After all, these films are always serious and sometimes you need to get a good joke out of them. So Mafia seemed like a good idea to me. I watched it last night and I have to say that while there were a few laughs here and there, Mafia's humor is mostly forced and typical. I know that most parody films are usually predictable in humor, but it would have been nice if it could have had more originality. Or maybe I'm wrong, mafia movies are just not what you could parody for a story. Mafia pretty much has the typical humor of kid getting hit by every object, movies that they parody that have nothing to do with the subject they're going for, fart, and sex jokes. It's just not original; but there are a few laughs here and there I admit. The story could have worked if they just cut back on a few typical gags.Anthony is part of the mafia family, he runs a casino in Las Vegas and his father is the Don of the family. But when his father is almost murdered during a wedding dance, he goes into the family business. With the non existing help from his coke addict brother, he must try to survive this business while trying to maintain a normal life. But he just about looses it when he decides to go ahead and kill everyone.Mafia! is over all not the most horrible comedy I've ever seen, there are movies that are a thousand times worse, but I think that the crew of the film just got a little out of control with what they had. I think it could have been a good film if the jokes were not just so predictable and bland. The cast seemed to have an alright time making the movie, I don't think they were really into it, except for Lloyd Bridges who played The Godfather, he looked like he had a fun time. I don't know if I would recommend this film, if you're looking for an average parody, this the movie for you, but don't expect anything more.4/10