Mafia

“Godfather” meets “Airplane!” in “Mafia!”, a new spoof by Jim Abrahams. Starring Lloyd Bridges as Mafia Godfather Vincenzo Cortino, “Mafia!” humorously depicts the transition of the Cortino crime family as his son Anthony (Jay Mohr) assumes his father’s position as Godfather.

When “Godfather” meets “Airplane” you get the worst of both worlds. A comedy about a crime drama equals a disaster film. The “Godfather” series has become a classic in the cinema world; however, I wonder if the current generation is intimately familiar enough with “Godfather” to see the sometimes subtle humor in the film. A generation (or two) ago this film would have been hilarious (or at least, mildly amusing… maybe). Set aside the lack of parodying a current film, the humor is the same stale jokes from “Airplane!,” “Hot Shots!”, “Top Secret” and the dozen other spoofs dumped on unsuspecting audiences. I am tired of seeing Lloyd Bridges fall down. Bridges adds all the acting skill of a tree. Someone stop Jim Abrahams before he films again.

Aside from having no entertainment value, “Mafia!” is moral trash. Profanity, sexual humor, violence, drug usage, and glorification of crime litter this waste of time. This has all the negative elements of “Godfather” with none of the (so called) redeeming value of being a film classic. Even worse in the fact that it comes packaged as a comedy, so not only are you exposed to this trash, you are encouraged to find humor in it. Disgusting!

I cannot think of one encouraging thing to say about this film. If you liked “Airplane”, rent it again—at least you won’t be exposed to humorized murder. If you liked “Godfather”, rent it again—at least you won’t be exposed to juvenile humor. (I personally do not endorse either of these films). This movie is worthless.