Married to the Mob

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")

It ain't Shakespeare, that's true, but it is a light and breezy romp. Pfieffer and Modine and Baldwin and Dean Stockwell are all having a great time with this 'dissatisfied mob wife' tale, and you will too. Interesting to watch this in the light of the "sopranos"- they are like loopy relatives somehow. Demme went on to greater, darker films (silence of the lambs, philadelphia) but I still enjoy his lighter period. So will you.

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.

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!

I'm surprised with the amount of negative reviews on this film. If you don't like this movie for what it is - a silly, over-the-top, mob story - then you are simply reading too much into it. This film is a classic tale of a mob wife trying to escape "the life" and the troubles that follow her. Michelle Pfeiffer is terrificly 80's 'jersey, who is an uncertain, uncomfortable mob wife while Matthew Modine is an anal retentive-like mob tracking cop who falls for her. The plot is mostly predictable and cutesy and Mercedes Ruel steals the show as the Queen of Mob Wives. If you aren't looking for something too dynamic and complex, this movie is absolutely entertaining and an 80's cult classic. You won't be able to stop watching if you start.