Sundays are movie days and after searching through my streaming site for something funny and nice to watch, I found Mafia Mamma (2023). I was in the mood for some mob action. Seeing Toni Collette and Monica Bellucci on the film poster, I shrugged. Okay, it might be a good watch but seeing the trailer convinced me it might be better.
After an hour and thirty-five minutes of staring at my screen, I couldn't decide whether to give this film a negative or positive review. So I'm choosing to stay sort of neutral. I'm not saying it's a bad movie but it's not that great either.
This film's opening scene shows Bianca (played by Monica Bellucci) and her boys arriving at the villa to see Don Balbano and members of their gang dead on the ground. She utters, "This means war." Don Balbano's will declares that his granddaughter, Kristin (played by Toni Collette), is to take over as the new head of the family.
Source: YouTube
Kristin is a pharmaceutical saleswoman/writer who is unappreciated at her work, hovers over her son who is on his way to college and discovers her husband is cheating on her. She's heartbroken that nothing is working well for her. Then she gets a call from Bianca that her grandfather is dead. Her friend at the gym encourages her to travel to Italy for the funeral and try to get a life while there. They came up with the phrase, "eat, pray, fuck" and Kristin leaves for Italy.
Arriving at the airport, she meets a young handsome stranger and they exchange numbers. Things go sideways at the funeral when masked men on bikes waylaid and shoot at them. Kristin is unexpectedly thrust into the chaotic world of her grandfather. Will she be able to live up to her grandfather's legacy or will she run back to her boring former life?
The plot of Mafia Mamma is not bad but I must outrightly say the screenwriting is unimpressive and the performance of the cast was not so good. No doubt, Toni Collette is a great actress and infuses humour into her roles. She did that in this film yet it couldn't cure the many things wrong with it. The fact that she is one of the producers makes it worse and makes me question why she got involved in the making of this film.
Mafia Mamma revolves around the Mafia lifestyle in southern Italy and it reminds viewers a little of the Godfather movies. The action and gunfights scenes were unserious like child's play or animated/comedy acts. The director, Catherine Hardwicke, apparently did not want viewers to take the movie seriously, hence the comedy but the acting was appalling. The gunfights appeared silly with shots taken willy-nilly. It wasn't clear if the two gangs were truly rivals or merely playing.
A film can inject some humour to make it light-hearted and fun and yet maintain some seriousness in some parts. In Mafia Mamma I was confused as to the silly and serious parts. Also, the killings were gorey! I don't mind some gore in a Mafia film but this one was nauseatingly shocking. Imagine sticking a five-inch heel of a stiletto into an eye and flinging out the eyeball!
This film also highlights some Italian culture like spitting on the ground when something or someone distasteful is mentioned. However, Mafia Mamma regaled viewers with many scenes of synchronised spitting by Kristin's gang whenever the names of their enemies are mentioned. Jeez! That was a little too much and became boring after a while. I feel sorry for whoever will clean up the room after.
The part I appreciate is the display of female empowerment and how Kristin did things differently than how a man would rule as the Don of the Balbano family.
Overall, it's a film you watch once and forget about it. Note that it's R rated for violence and profanities so children cannot be allowed to watch it.
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Other images are screenshots from the movie
