Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998)

This hapless comedy may actually work a lot better on video than it did in theaters. A parody of contemporary mob movies (with a few sidebars skewering such hits as Forrest Gump and The English Patient), Mafia! most closely resembles the first two Godfather films in its generational saga of a gangster family. Lloyd Bridges plays Don Cortino, a native Sicilian who presides over a crime syndicate, and Jay Mohr plays his Michael Corleone-like son. The film is by Jim Abrahams, formerly of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker directing team (Airplane!, The Naked Gun), single- handedly trotting out the old dumb-joke aesthetic that worked wonderfully a lifetime ago but looks a little creaky in the era of There's Something About Mary. Silly allusions to every crime film (GoodFellas, Casino) produced in the last three decades and featuring at least one wise guy or made man find their way into Mafia!'s gags, but most are arbitrary and shrugged off. The film tanked in theaters for good reason; on the other hand, Mafia! might have a lot more to offer if you're slumped on your own couch at the end of a long day, ready for brain-dead entertainment and absolutely apathetic about comic integrity. Even a film this instantly stale on the big screen might have its place in video posterity. -- Tom Keogh Amazon.com

A Funny Spoof... no, no, really!

Even the name is ridiculous, "Jane Austin's Mafia". IF you've seen all those Italian mobster movies, like Casino, the Godfather, Goodfellas, they do a descent job of mocking them. This is one of the last good spoofs. all the new ones suck. June 11, 2008

Satire...MORE! MORE! I'm still not satisfied!

I need not describe the hillarity of this movie so much as one ought see it for themselves! Satire was almost* never greater than in this fantastic piece!

*We can't really say 'never better' flat-out, where would we put Airplane and Anchorman? April 26, 2008

Ridiculously Funny Movie!

We watched this movie at Thanksgiving and my 81 year old father-in-law
was laughing so hard he was crying! We had to buy this for him. We are
giving it to him today, Christmas day, and I imagine we will watch it again. It is nice to see the old fellow enjoying it because he falls asleep during most movies, but not this one!
December 25, 2007

You'll never look at the Godfather the same way again!

Another absolute "must-have" if you love the spoofs of Abrams/Zucker fame. Lloyd Bridges as the Godfather is priceless. Get ready to laugh until your sides hurt and get this movie!! June 11, 2007

Mafia!

This is one incredible and loveable movie. I've watched it 3 times so far and each time I laugh until my sides hurt. January 15, 2007

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