Married to the Mob
Married to the Mob is a 1988 American comedy film directed by Jonathan Demme, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Matthew Modine.
Pfeiffer plays Angela de Marco, a gangster's widow from Brooklyn, opposite Modine as the undercover FBI agent assigned the task of investigating her mafia connections. As a sneaky mob boss romantically pursuing Angela, Dean Stockwell was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Plot
Angela de Marco is the wife of mafia up-and-comer Frank "The Cucumber" de Marco, who gets violently dispatched by Mob boss Tony "The Tiger" Russo when he is discovered in a compromising situation with the latter's mistress Karen. Angela wants to escape the mafia scene with her son, but is harassed by Tony who puts the moves on her at Frank's funeral. This clinch earns her the suspicion of FBI agents Mike Downey and Ed Benitez, who are conducting surveillance, and also of Tony's wife Connie, who repeatedly confronts Angela with accusations of stealing her husband. To further complicate things, Mike Downey is assigned to monitor all of Angela's movements as part of an undercover surveillance operation, but cannot resist becoming romantically involved with Angela himself. Angela's attempts to break away from the Mob result in comic mayhem and a climactic showdown in a honeymoon suite in Miami Beach.Cast
In addition, short cameo appearances include the film's director, Jonathan Demme, as a man getting off an elevator in Miami, and the film's music supervisor, Gary Goetzman, as the guy playing piano when the mobsters gather at the "King's Roost" restaurant.Reception
Critical response
Married to the Mob received a largely positive response from critics, and holds an 89% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 45 reviews and a score of 71 on Metacritic.Janet Maslin in The New York Times wrote that "Married to the Mob works best as a wildly overdecorated screwball farce... it also plays as a gentle romance, and as the story of a woman trying to re-invent her life." The Washington Post described the film as "all decked out in Godfather kitsch, but underneath its loud exterior, a complex heroine struggles for freedom." Variety called the film "fresh, colorful and inventive." Time Out wrote that although the film was "relentlessly shallow, the performances, music and gaudy visuals provide a fizzy vitality for which many other directors would give their right arm." Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times gave a more lukewarm review, but ended positively: "Still, Married to the Mob is loaded with wonderful offbeat touches... most assuredly doesn't lack soul."
Jonathan Demme's direction was praised for its idiosyncrasy. The New York Times called him "American cinema's king of amusing artifacts: blinding bric-a-brac, the junkiest of jewelry, costumes so frightening they take your breath away." The Washington Post wrote that "Jonathan Demme has nailed one with this playful, but dangerous, gangster farce."
The acting performances were widely acclaimed, especially that of Michelle Pfeiffer in a star-making turn, "her best performance to date." Richard Corliss in Time wrote that Pfeiffer was the "emotional anchor to his vertiginous sight gags." Variety claimed the "enormous cast is a total delight, starting with Pfeiffer." The Washington Post called Pfeiffer a "deft comedian... It's her movie, and she graces it." Matthew Modine was "winning," according to Variety.
Supporting players Dean Stockwell and Mercedes Ruehl also received praise for their performances. The Washington Post described Ruehl's character as "majestic in her jealousy, stealing scenes but never the show from the sweetly determined Pfeiffer." Maslin in the New York Times thought that Pfeiffer and Modine were "readily upstaged by Miss Ruehl and, especially, by Mr. Stockwell. His shoulder-rolling caricature of this suave, foppish and thoroughly henpecked kingpin is the film's biggest treat." Variety described Stockwell as "a hoot."
Accolades
was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.Dean Stockwell was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and won awards in the same category from the National Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Circle, both of which were also in honor of his work in '. He also shared the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor in a three-way tie with Martin Landau for Tucker: The Man and His Dream and Tom Cruise for Rain Man.
Mercedes Ruehl won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress.
| Awarding Body | Award | Nominee | Result |
| Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Dean Stockwell | nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy | Michelle Pfeiffer | nominated |
| Kansas City Film Critics Circle | Best Supporting Actor | Dean Stockwell | winner |
| National Society of Film Critics | Best Supporting Actor | Dean Stockwell | winner |
| National Society of Film Critics | Best Supporting Actress | Mercedes Ruehl | winner |
| New York Film Critics Circle | Best Supporting Actor | Dean Stockwell | winner''' |
Music
- Married to the Mob
- "Goodbye Horses"