‘Mafia Mamma’ Review: Toni Collette Becomes The Reluctant Godmother In Mild Italian Mob Comedy

Pete Hammond
Updated ·4 min read
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Mafia Mamma coulda been a contender, a sharp idea to throw an unsuspecting wife, mother and frustrated businesswoman into a new life as the head of an Italian crime family. Instead, though blessed to have the wonderful Toni Collette in the title role, it becomes a pasta with too many ingredients. This is not to say general audiences won’t be pleased, but this is a movie that feels like we have seen it too many times before. You certainly will have a few laughs, admire the Roman scenery and root for Collette’s success, but it is pretty mild when it should have been wickedly smart with this kind of premise. Married to the Mob it is not.

Collette plays Kristin Balbano Jordan, an American in the midst of a life crisis. Her only son Domenick (Tommy Rodger) is going off to college, she catches her deadbeat husband Paul (Tim Daish) having sex with another woman, and she is constantly shot down in her marketing job by her male boss and misogynist co-workers. It is time for a change, and she is about to get one she never could have predicted.

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Upon learning that the grandfather she never knew, Don Giuseppe Balbano (Alessandro Bressanello), has died, and left her as his only remaining heir to take care of his business, she finds encouragement from her bestie, Jenny (a lively Sophia Nomvete) to take the opportunity of attending his funeral in Rome as a way to change things up, find a little Eat, Pray, Love at this point in her life. So off she goes only to land in the danger zone as she discovers (after an assassination attempt at the funeral) that grandpa was actually the head of Italy’s Balbano Mafia clan and murdered by a rival (Eduardo Scarpetta), leaving instructions that Kristin succeed him as head of the family “business.” In industry terms this then becomes a “fish out of water” setup.

Of course she is appalled at the idea, and it is about as ludicrous as they come, but in the script by Michael J. Feldman and Debbie Jhoon from a screen story by Amanda Sthers it attempts to be plausible as Kristin is guided throughout by the Consigliere, Bianca (an always welcome Monica Bellucci) who uses sly arguments and wise counsel to empower the new female Don. Mixing Italian Mafia stereotypes for the more violent aspects of the tall tale with a dreamy romance in the stew — in the form of a man named Lorenzo (Giulio Corso) who after a chance meeting becomes an instant romantic interest for her — along with some twists here and there, Kristin rises to the occasion finding ways around the gunplay to make the Balbano winery and other illicit activities a cause for good rather than bad, and outsmarting the mob boys.

In its own way, veteran director Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) has turned all this into a more mainstream feminist comedy, a vehicle for Collette, who lifts it up a few notches and makes it all passable and likable enough for its 100-minute running time. Without the likes of Collette and Bellucci, however, we would be in trouble here, but they are smart enough pros in every sense of the word to make this all go down easy enough. Nomvete has her moments as well in an Italian courtroom of all places, and Alfonso Perugini and Francesco Mastroianni also manage to delight as Kristin’s new bodyguards.

If you don’t ask too much of it, Mafia Mamma may fill the bill for you if you miss the kind of standard studio-type comedy the studios have largely abandoned — forgettable but harmless. This one is released by Bleecker Street. It opens Friday. Producers are Sthers, Christopher Simon and Collette.

Title: Mafia Mamma
Distributor: Bleecker Street
Release date: April 14, 2023
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Screenwriters: Michael J. Feldman and Debbie Jhoon (from a story by Amanda Sthers)
Cast: Toni Collette, Monica Bellucci, Sophia Nomvete, Alfonso Perugini, Francesco Mastroianni, Giulio Corso, Eduardo Scarpetta, Tim Daish, Tommy Rodger
Rating: R
Running time: 1 hr 41 min

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