Married to the Mob

The style director Jonathan Demme achieves with 1988's MARRIED TO THE MOB is quite enviable - a loose, quirky, yet highly skillful and confident framing of a story whose tone could've gone in a million directions.  This tale of a Mafia widow who escapes the smothering culture of the "family" of Long Island and tries to make it on her own in NYC does switch gears a few times, but somehow always feels whimsical.  Never silly or juvenile.

Michelle Pfeifer plays Angela de Marco, whose husband Frank (Alec Baldwin) has been iced by notorious local Boss Tony "The Tiger" Russo (Dean Stockwell). Tony found Frank messing around with his mistress. Connie (Mercedes Ruehl) is Tony's neurotic wife, wise to but also in denial of Tony's infidelities.  When Tony puts the moves on Angela at Frank's funeral, Connie happens to catch the moment and accuses Angela of trying to steal her guy.  Meanwhile, Federal agent Mike Downey (Matthew Modine) and partner  Ed Benitez (Oliver Platt) - who've long been tracking Tony - also see Tony and Angela and have a similar misunderstanding.  Soon, Mike is tracking Angela and unwisely gets close to her and falls in love.

That's the main summary, nothing especially innovative in the plotline, though Barry Strugatz and Mark R. Burn's script has some nifty twists and spins on familiar scenes.  What's important here are the wonderful performances.  This may be Pfiefer's best work.  She truly nails the simple and lonely but tough and independent New Yawka with choice moments of vulnerability.  She has good chemistry with Modine, who actually does well with a comedic role for a change. Stockwell is perfect as the cocky and charming mob head.  Ruehl just about steals the movie with an expert performance; her confrontation with Angela in the grocery store and gun toting during the climax are grand bits of comedy. Her assessment of Angela's Manhattan apartment is also quite funny.

But Demme as deserves much credit for his handling of the material.  His point of view is always uncovering the more eccentric qualities of the characters.  Odd moments when fast food managers make two chicken figurines tap beaks with each other or FBI guys get confused and begin acting out a gamut of reactions to another.  The tone is mostly comedic, with some serious moments woven in smoothly.  A farce that sometimes acknowledges the underlying seriousness of what is essentially a garish and tacky culture.  The director has always focused on fascinating subcultures in the American landscape, the heartland, the suburbs, and in urban jungles.

You may also notice the curious motif of people getting shot and never bleeding.  Fits with the whimsy.

In the 1990s, Demme's films got much more serious.  A good decision, as quirkiness can only go so far. But as great as some of the later movies are, it's always fun to go back and enjoy the playfulness of 1986's SOMETHING WILD and MARRIED TO THE MOB, a goombah comedy filtered through a Greenwich Village sensibility.  Note also how both films feature a central lead who is straight laced and looking for a change, and surrounded by a gallery of colorful supporting characters.