Married to the Mob

Demme sees corruption-the potential for it and the indulgence of it-in everyone. Yet he doesn't neglect the humanity of the people in thrall to or trapped within those systems.

The results are very good - far better and funnier than most of what is being made these days.

Demme makes crystal-clear what some have suspected for quite a while: that there are few more luxurious movie pleasures than watching Michelle Pfeiffer when she's given a role worthy of her.

High-spirited and hilarious, Mob supplies that special kick you get from movie comedy when laughter bubbles over into bliss.

Demme's narrative has all the frantic intensity of a nightmare which with its constant shifts of pace and mood works beautifully both as a thriller and as comedy.

Pfeiffer is at her best, and there's plenty of action, although you may feel that some of the gags involving a scorned and vengeful wife (Mercedes Ruehl) are a bit shopworn.

A despairing little parable about domestic abuse and police indifference, made even bleaker by the fact that it treats its main character’s predicament like a punch line.

[Jonathan] Demme revs the film up with outsized characters and tacky fashions colliding with the freewheeling multicultural energy of Pfeiffer’s new home, a way of life that invigorates her in a way the insular mob life never did...

Jonathan Demme once again comes up with a fresh and funny movie about life in America.

It's a tonal gymnastics display that doesn't come around very often, making "Married to the Mob" special, assisted in great part by Demme's askew vision for this type of story.