Mafia Mamma (2023)

My Review

“Mafia Mamma” is the story of an American housewife and mother who gets a call from Italy informing her that her grandfather has passed away. When she travels to Rome to attend the funeral, she finds out he was a Mafia don of the Balbano crime family and that she has inherited his Mob Empire. The comedy and drama proceeds from there. Unfortunately, the comedic moments are all too infrequent and the drama is predictable, due to uneven direction by Catherine Hardwicke (“The Nativity Story” 2006) and a mediocre screenplay by Michael J. Feldman and Debbie Jhoon.

The cast delivers in the performance department, especially Toni Collette in the lead role. It is a crime that her talent has been wasted here. Italian actress Monica Bellucci is quite good as Collette’s “second banana,” the attorney of the Balbano family. Co-stars include Sophia Nomvete, Eduardo Scarpetta, Alfonso Perugini, Francesco Mastroianni, Alesandro Cremona, Tommy Rodger, Tim Daish, Giulo Corso, Livia De Paolis, and Giuseppe Zeno as Don Carlo, head of the rival Romano family.

“Mafia Mamma” performed poorly at the box office for producer Toni Collette, New Sparta Productions, Idea(L) Productions, Vocab Films, and Bleeker Street.