Married to the Mob is a 1988 American crime romantic comedy film directed by Jonathan Demme, written by Barry Strugatz and Mark R. Burns, and starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Modine, Dean Stockwell, Mercedes Ruehl, and Alec Baldwin. Pfeiffer plays Angela de Marco, a gangster's widow from Long Island, opposite Modine as the undercover FBI agent assigned the task of investigating her mafia connections.
The film was released on August 19, 1988, by Orion Pictures. It earned positive reviews from critics and earned several accolades; Pfeiffer was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical, and Stockwell was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Demme called it "a complete escapist fantasy... fun to do, and very cathartic, revivifying." He added that "the subtle social message" of the movie "is that people of different races especially, and people in general, can benefit by reaching out to other people, and by being reached out to in turn." He had a different actor in mind to play Tony but changed his mind after seeing a photo of Dean Stockwell.
Something Wild star Ray Liotta turned down the part of Frank.
Filming took place on Long Island and Brooklyn, New York.
The original cut was over three hours so numerous scenes were taken out. However outtakes from these appear in the end credits.
Music
The musical score was composed by David Byrne, after Demme directed the Talking Heads concert films Stop Making Sense.
The film features the song "Goodbye Horses" by Q Lazzarus, which Demme would later use in The Silence of the Lambs.
The opening credits use the Rosemary Clooney song "Mambo Italiano," which is not included in the film's official soundtrack.
Reception
Married to the Mob received a largely positive response from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 88% based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 7.30/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Buoyed by Jonathan Demme's intuitive direction and Michelle Pfeiffer's irresistible charisma, Married to the Mob is a saucy mix of broad comedy and gangster drama." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that "Married to the Mob works best as a wildly overdecorated screwball farce... it also plays as a gentle romance, and as the story of a woman trying to re-invent her life." The Washington Post described the film as "all decked out in Godfather kitsch, but underneath its loud exterior, a complex heroine struggles for freedom." Variety called the film "fresh, colorful and inventive." Time Out wrote that although the film was "relentlessly shallow, the performances, music and gaudy visuals provide a fizzy vitality for which many other directors would give their right arm." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave a more lukewarm review, but ended positively: "Still, Married to the Mob is loaded with wonderful offbeat touches... [and] most assuredly doesn't lack soul."
Jonathan Demme's direction was praised for its idiosyncrasy. The New York Times called him "American cinema's king of amusing artifacts: blinding bric-a-brac, the junkiest of jewelry, costumes so frightening they take your breath away." Variety claimed the "enormous cast is a total delight, starting with Pfeiffer."
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| Artios Awards
| Outstanding Achievement in Feature Film Casting – Comedy
| Howard Feuer
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| rowspan="2"| Boston Society of Film Critics Awards
| Best Supporting Actor
| Dean Stockwell
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| Best Supporting Actress
| Joan Cusack
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| Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
| Best Supporting Actor
| Dean Stockwell
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| Golden Globe Awards
| Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
| Michelle Pfeiffer
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| Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards
| Best Supporting Actor
| Dean Stockwell
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| rowspan="2"| National Society of Film Critics Awards
| Best Supporting Actor
| Dean Stockwell
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| Best Supporting Actress
| Mercedes Ruehl
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| New York Film Critics Circle Awards
| Best Supporting Actor
| Dean Stockwell
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| Young Artist Awards
| Best Young Performer in a TV Movie, Pilot or Special
| Cory Danziger
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Notes
References
External links
- Movieline interview with Dean Stockwell on the making of Married to the Mob