Die Mafiosi-Braut

Michelle Pfeiffer is ideally cast as the frustrated mob widow in this colourful black comedy. Matthew Modine plays a clumsy FBI agent who has taken a fancy to her. Dean Stockwell steals the show as the big shot who keeps on pestering Pfeiffer; Mercedes Ruehl is dynamic as his jealous wife. It's all very eighties, but that just adds to the fun. A nice little flick, though not for every taste.

The mobster 'Cucumber' Frank de Marco (Alec Baldwin) is married with the housewife Angela de Marco (Michelle Pfeiffer) and she in unhappy with their marriage and wants the divorce. Frank is having a love affair with Karen Lutnick (Nancy Travis), who is the mistress of his boss Tony 'The Tiger' Russo (Dean Stockwell). When Tony discovers their love affair, he kills them in a party. Tony is under surveillance of the FBI agents Mike Downey (Matthew Modine) and Ed Benitez (Oliver Platt) and during the wake, Tony kisses Angela. The agents and Tony's wife Connie Russo (Mercedes Ruehl) believe that the widow Angela is having an affair with Tony. Angela takes the opportunity to move from the suburbs to a small apartment in New York with her son. Meanwhile Mike bugs her apartment and soon they fall in love with each other. But Tony discovers her new address and courts her. Soon the FBI Senior Management blackmails Angela to force her to get close to Tony to help the FBI to arrest him and she discovers that Mike is an agent. Will Angela give a second chance to Mike?

"Married to the Mob" is another great film from the 80's, directed by Jonathan Demme and with a story with comedy, romance and action. The chemistry between Michelle Pfeiffer and Matthew Modine is impressive but Mercedes Ruehl steals the show. There is cameo participation of famous people and this movie is still attractive and has not aged after being watched many times along almost thirty years. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "De Caso com a Máfia" ("In an Affair with the Mafia")

A recently widowed mafia wife seeks a fresh start, but must deal with romantic overtures from a mob boss as well as an undercover FBI agent who's tailing her. Pfeiffer is wonderful as the woman who can't escape the mob life. Also good is Stockwell as the mob boss who makes the move on Pfeiffer. Modine, however, is miscast as an FBI agent on the case. The role calls for charm, but Modine is so geeky and awkward that it's hard to believe that Pfeiffer would fall for him. Baldwin, who plays Pfeiffer's husband, would have fared better in the Modine role. The supporting cast features a number of familiar faces. Demme provides the breezy direction.

This is a consistently funny story with some serious action scenes thrown in here and there. That combination of mob movie and comedy makes this a fun film to watch.l The characters in this movie are just that: characters. Everyone is a little off, actually a little too wacky for any believability. It's just a outrageous story played for laughs with few things making sense or being realistic.

Michelle Pfeiffer and Matthew Modine are the stars but Mercedes Ruehl steals the show, in my opinion, as the jealous wife. Dean Stockwell is great as the smooth mob man. Even with all the makeup to make her look cheap, Pfeiffer ("Angela de Marco") still can't hide that fabulous face. The costumes in here are great, too.

This is not family fare with a deserved R-rating for language, violence and some nudity but it's not really a rough movie. It has its charms, that's for sure. Modine plays the nice guy "Mike Downey."

Note: stay with the ending credits, because there is a lot of footage of scenes that never made it to the movie but were very interesting.

I had to write this review because the only user comments on file don't begin to do this film justice. For one thing, Michelle Pfeiffer is TERRIFIC in this role -- she demonstrates a marvelous comedic style we don't often get to see. (Maybe the other reviewer prefers her serious work, but I dispute the comment that Pfeiffer has "matured" beyond this role. It's a comedy, for goodness' sake!)

And yes, Alec Baldwin is quite good, but it's Matthew Modine who steals the picture! (He also has much more screen time.) Mercedes Ruehl and Dean Stockwell (as Tony 'The Tiger' Russo) are absolutely delicious. The plot is delightful, and sometimes manages to touch on some more somber issues, as all great comedies do.

In short, I've seen this hilarious film two or three times over the years, and thinking about it now makes me eager to watch it all over again!