“Mamma Mafia” (2023) refers to Kristin Balbano (Toni Collette), a suburban wife, mother and pharmaceutical marketing rep, who goes to Italy for her grandfather’s funeral only to discover that she has inherited his title and is now the Donna of a mafia family at war with the Romanos. Will she succeed at running the family business?
Collette is a great actor. Director Catherine Hardwicke started as a notable indie director with “Thirteen” (2003), “Lords of Dogtown” (2005) and “The Nativity Story” (2006) but has descended into forgettable commercial fare starting with “Twilight” (2008) then dabbling in directing television series. Novelist, playwright, and screenwriter Amanda Sthers conceived the premise and teamed up with television writers J. Michael Feldman and Debbie Jhoon. “The Spy Who Dumped Me” (2018) is the gold standard for blending comedy, action and violence by hitting each genre perfectly. “Mamma Mafia” falls short by being inconsistent and uneven in mixing the genres and never nailing one.
“Mamma Mafia” has ambitions to be a cross between “The Godfather” (1972) and Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestselling memoir “Eat, Pray, Love” with a profane twist on the last word. The book was already adapted into a narcissistic film that lacked depth and only cared about the central character thus neglecting to give names to most of the supporting characters. At least this film’s protagonist is more considerate and less annoying. Only the film’s credit font resembles Francis Ford Coppola’s classic otherwise it is closer to a tasteless Saturday Night Live skit that goes on too long in mocking Italians. I defer to Italians regarding whether it is offensive.
“Mamma Mafia” has more in common with “The Invitation” (2022) with its protagonist discovering a dangerous heritage and relying on a black best friend, lawyer Jenny (Sophia Nomvete), who is always available to drop everything to help her. The film is more like a glorified makeover in self-worth and appearance. Kristin finds her backbone, thinks of herself first instead of being a giving tree and embraces her gifts and talents. Her mafia family are encouraging cheerleaders and beauty consultants who function as fairy godmothers who make all of Kristin’s dreams come true: wine making, finding hot men and new smartphones.
“Mamma Mafia” could have worked, but if felt as if the editor cut a lot of background on the business. The story pulls punches on exploring the undercurrent of rage that ordinary American women feel and can unleash on a moment’s notice if the right circumstances permit violence. The film, like Kristin, is too concerned with making sure that the protagonist remains nice instead of continuously tapping into that rage and enjoying the power to not be nice without consequences. Collette reveals this side of character in the denouement by giving a little villain laugh and delivering an ultimatum when she holds someone’s life in her hands, but the film makes sure to keep the violence within the parameters of self-defense or accidental, unintentional serendipity instead of proactive. Let her gift be an emerging skill at lethal force which she can wield at will, and this film would have resonated. Let us use Melanie Lynsky’s recent work as our guiding star—I’ve only seen clips, but she makes me want to start watching “Yellowjacket” or “The Last of Us.”.
“Mamma Mafia” leans too hard on contrasting American sensibilities with the film’s depiction of Italians. Kristin is blonde, loquacious, speaks with a question mark lilting tone at the end of her sentences, emotional whereas the Italians are terse, dark, blunt and unperturbed. Leaning on this comparison becomes one note. Even when Kristin reaches the zenith of her power, opposing families are still too comfortable yelling at her, and her default is chastened, people pleasing. I wanted more of her experiencing validation from the most dangerous people because they were afraid of her. It does work when her mafia family meets her cheating, manchild husband, Paul (Tim Daish), and puts him in his place. Her college age son’s epiphany about his mother’s new vocation should have been funnier, but he is a blank slate, and the film never conveys anything winning about him except his mother’s love. He is too much like his father, but lacks the inherent humor of a grown man acting like a spoiled teen. It also would have helped if he resembled his mother in any capacity, but they feel like strangers. Instead Daish gets some of the funniest moments by being shameless, awful and proud of his invisible accomplishments.
The violence can be very bloody and explicit with casual dismemberments and rape attempts. I deducted points for using the rape for laughs then not being funny though I applaud the fight scene that follows. Kristin’s desperate attempts for a hookup strain credibility since they follow traumatic encounters. Thankfully “Mamma Mafia” is aiming towards curing Kristin of the habit of letting her life revolve around a man, but when it culminates in a court trial, one of my least favorite, heavy-handed tropes to vindicate a character’s story arc, it feels like an absurd afterthought.
Side note: an American lawyer could not just practice in Italy even if the rules permitted it. US law’s foundation is common law, and I believe that Italian law is closer to Napoleonic codes. We would literally have no clue what we were doing. Also why was not the news covering this trial? We should have had a reaction shot of Kristin’s former coworkers finding out that she is a mob boss.
“Mamma Mafia” is better when her cousin Fabrizio (Eduardo Scarpetta) and consigliere and general Bianca (Monica Bellucci) each have one-on-ones with Kristin outdoors on a canopy bed. These scenes feel oddly sexual and close, but are just inspirational, empowering moments. Fabrizio encourages her to embrace her inner leopard, the animal on the family crest, and it is the first genuinely funny scene. Soon thereafter Bianca slings her leg over Kristin, which becomes pivotal to the denouement in a goofy James Bond way, then convinces her to embrace the complexity of human nature by becoming a nice mafia boss. Scarpetta nails the humor, and Bellucci acts as if she is in a better movie by alternating between disgust and patient manipulation as if she is dealing with a child. There is a better movie in here with bisexual (?) Bianca and Kristin spending more time with each other instead of milquetoast montages about illicit, but humane business.
“Mamma Mafia” did crack me up that Randy, one of Kristin’s coworkers, used a jet-ski in every ad. The pitch room mimicked a less pedantic version of Dre’s workplace in “Black-ish,” which always came with a lesson. Instead her work dynamic shows the sexism without offering an explicit morale about the evils of misogyny. I also loved the goofball, Laurel and Hardy odd couple energy between Aldo (Francesco Mastroianni) and Dante (Alfonso Perugini), Kristin’s bodyguards and mafia soldiers. Mastroianni and Perugini balance sweetness and violence in a way that the movie never finds with Kristin.
Compared to other reviewers, I was fairly generous with my rating because I do think that there is a good movie in there, and it is tilting towards camp. I did not know that Hardwicke and Collette worked together in “Miss You Already” (2015) so now I have to see it, especially since Drew Barrymore is in it.