This movie is a mindless silly comedy, that's all. You either find it humorous, or you don't. I enjoyed it.
None of the characters are original, they're all recycled from other movies. Toni Collette plays a timid wife/mother who suddenly finds herself thrust into the role of the head of an Italian mafia family. She has played this type of character several times in movies, and she is good at it.
Toni Collette is particularly good at revealing the transformation she inevitably goes through, to become a more self confident woman. And her character does so without losing the simple generosity she had previously. Toni Collette plays that transformation well here, as well
The plot is also not particularly original. Some directors try to turn comedies like this into "dark comedy", with scenes that try to jolt the audience out of their complacency. There is one scene in Mafia Mamma that inches in that direction--but steers clear of becoming too "dark".
There are several ongoing gags that some reviewers groan over, but I found amusing.
For instance, Toni Collette's character has never seen the Godfather movies.--shocking and disturbing her entire mafia crew. "Who's got three hours to devote to a movie?!!"
The one time, Toni's character does catch a Godfather reference, and surprises everyone, she explains, "No, I didn't watch the movie. I looked at the Wikipedia page."
I smiled quite often in this movie, and laughed out loud several times--which is about all I ask of a comedy. Mafia Mamma has gotten pretty awful reviews, 21% on Rotten Tomatoes, from critics. (quite a bit higher though from audiences).
My guess is that this movie will "age" well. Audiences will like it even more than they do now, while critics will still give it a big "thumbs down".
None of the characters are original, they're all recycled from other movies. Toni Collette plays a timid wife/mother who suddenly finds herself thrust into the role of the head of an Italian mafia family. She has played this type of character several times in movies, and she is good at it.
Toni Collette is particularly good at revealing the transformation she inevitably goes through, to become a more self confident woman. And her character does so without losing the simple generosity she had previously. Toni Collette plays that transformation well here, as well
The plot is also not particularly original. Some directors try to turn comedies like this into "dark comedy", with scenes that try to jolt the audience out of their complacency. There is one scene in Mafia Mamma that inches in that direction--but steers clear of becoming too "dark".
There are several ongoing gags that some reviewers groan over, but I found amusing.
For instance, Toni Collette's character has never seen the Godfather movies.--shocking and disturbing her entire mafia crew. "Who's got three hours to devote to a movie?!!"
The one time, Toni's character does catch a Godfather reference, and surprises everyone, she explains, "No, I didn't watch the movie. I looked at the Wikipedia page."
I smiled quite often in this movie, and laughed out loud several times--which is about all I ask of a comedy. Mafia Mamma has gotten pretty awful reviews, 21% on Rotten Tomatoes, from critics. (quite a bit higher though from audiences).
My guess is that this movie will "age" well. Audiences will like it even more than they do now, while critics will still give it a big "thumbs down".