Mafia! - Eine Nudel macht noch keine Spaghetti!

A worthwhile spoof of gangster movies (especially the godfather and casino) with several really funny scenes that will keep you laughing. I enjoyed this when I saw it and would recommend it. Good script and good performances.

** 1/2 out of ****

This film is a nice tribute to the late (great) Lloyd Bridges in his final role as the main Don Conrtino (he keeps mixing it up though) who must pass on his business (mob) to his son Tony (played hilariously by Jay Mohr). A great spoof as always coming from ZAZ man (A man actually) Jim Abrahams who casts Bridges for the 5th time. He also brings to the screen zany yet funny parodies of films (gnagster in general) including- GoodFellas, Casino, The Godfather Trilogy, Jaws, Jurassic Park 1 & 2, and countless others. Plenty of gags and two great performances save this film from plot destruction. One of the funniest spoofs ever. A+

Jim Abrahams, the director of "Jane Austen's Mafia", is a man that knows a thing, or two, about what to give the public as he has already shown in his acerbic satires. This one, came without any warning the other night and frankly, either we were in a giddy mood, or we were ready to laugh looking at this spoof on the different Godfathers films, as well as others, most notably, Goodfellas and Casino. Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese might have laughed at seeing some of the material they directed seen in a different light.

The casting was excellent. LLoyd Bridges, for whom the film is dedicated, gives a great performance as the older Vincenzo Cortino. Jay Mohr as the younger Cortino is good. The same can be said for the rest of the cast that do some amazing funny turns.

The only suggestion is to stay tuned to the credits because of the funny lines in between the names of the people involved in this film. If you're in a mood for fun and want to see some light fare, this is the film for you.

Mixing the plots of Godfather with Casino, Goodfellas etc this follows the story of Tony Cortino who returns home as a war hero who is forced into the leadership of the Mafia following the attempted assassination of his father.

What does the plot matter - it is broadly a copy of the first two Godfathers but ropes in plenty of spoofs of gangster movies as well as others (eg Forrest Gump), however it's main success (if it has one) is that it reminds you how good those films are. When I finished watching this I wanted to watch all the real films to wash this nasty thing out of my mind.

The spoof scenes are lazy and not inspired at all - they are really easy and obvious, totally lacking any intelligence or effort. I actually enjoy spoofs - Blazing Saddles, Airplane, Naked Gun - I enjoy them all, so it's not like I feel they're beneath me or anything. However the jokes here are stupid, I actually chuckled twice in 90 minutes (not laughed but chuckled), and both of these were at stupid jokes.

The cast are OK but deserve better - when I see Vincent Pastore in this after being so good in Sopranos it makes me sad. Fair enough, Jay Mohr probably doesn't deserve any better but the rest do. The saddest sight is Bridges - so funny in Airplane and Hotshots, but here his clowning is rubbish. What makes it worse is that before the end credits the film is dedicated to his memory! Surely a more fitting tribute would have been to reshoot all his scenes and prevent this from being one of the last things he did.

Overall this is terrible - I'm a fan of spoofs and this barely made me laugh once or twice. This only success in reminding you how good the original films were. A mess!

It certainly took a long time to get to see the first spoof on the ever-so -serious mafia flicks! However, it was worth the wait - Jim Abrahams has certainly not lost his touch. Although there is an abundant number of really bad jokes in the picture, and many times you've heard them before (in Airplane!, Naked Gun etc.), one cannot help but like it. For one thing, Mafia! looks fabulous (especially the Sicilian scenes). At times sparks really fly in terms of funny dialogue and character interaction - I especially enjoyed Christina Applegate's 'presidential' performance. Although Lloyd Bridges will be fondly remembered (and missed), I would have preferred to see Leslie Nielsen in Don Cortino's role.