Mafia!

If you’ve ever thought, “You know what The Godfather and Goodfellas really need? More fart jokes,” then congratulations—Mafia! is the movie for you. Directed by Jim Abrahams (yes, one of the mad geniuses behind Airplane! and The Naked Gun), this 1998 spoof takes aim at mob movies with all the subtlety of a tommy gun at close range. It’s loud, dumb, and about as nuanced as a guy named Vinnie breaking your kneecaps over an unpaid debt—but somehow, it works.

The Plot (Sort Of?)

Like all great mob stories, Mafia! follows the rise and fall of a powerful crime boss. Only, in this case, our hero is Tony Cortino (Jay Mohr), the son of legendary mobster Don Vincenzo Cortino (Lloyd Bridges, who could do this kind of comedy in his sleep). The film jumps between Tony’s tragic childhood in Sicily (which includes a tragic chicken assassination because why not?) and his eventual rise to power in 1970s America. Along the way, we get parodies of every mob movie trope imaginable—hit jobs, betrayals, mob wives with increasingly ridiculous hair, and a whole lot of slow-motion gunfights that always end in someone doing a wildly unnecessary flip.

But let’s be real—nobody is watching this movie for a gripping mafia saga. The plot is just an excuse to string together an onslaught of gags, visual puns, and references that range from brilliant to brain-meltingly stupid.

Jay Mohr as… Al Pacino? Robert De Niro? Who Knows.

Jay Mohr does his best to channel every mobster leading man ever, but mostly, he just looks confused to be here. To be fair, that might be because he’s surrounded by absolute chaos at all times. Whether he’s dealing with an assassination attempt involving exploding golf balls or having a dramatic, slow-motion shootout set to elevator music, Mohr plays it straight, which is exactly what a movie like this needs.

But the real MVP? Lloyd Bridges. In one of his final film roles, he delivers every line with the kind of deadpan brilliance that only he could pull off. His Don Vincenzo is a masterclass in ridiculous gravitas—at one point, he casually walks out of a fiery car explosion with no explanation, because that’s just the kind of movie this is. It’s pure spoof comedy gold.

Jokes, Jokes, and More Jokes (Mostly Mafia-Related, But Not Always)

The humor in Mafia! is exactly what you’d expect from the guys who gave us Airplane!—which is to say, completely unhinged. Some jokes are spot-on (The Godfather references, a scene ripping on Casino), while others are so dumb you have to admire the commitment. A running gag involving a rival hitman who just can’t seem to die? Hilarious. A scene where a mobster uses a literal catapult to take out his enemies? Absolutely ridiculous. And then there are the jokes that make you wonder if the writers were just throwing darts at a wall—like a random Titanic parody that appears out of nowhere.

The film also doesn’t shy away from cartoonish violence. People get gunned down in ways that would make Looney Tunes jealous, and at one point, someone is actually chopped into pieces and reassembled like a jigsaw puzzle. It’s all so over-the-top that it loops back around to being kind of brilliant.

Does It Hold Up?

Look, Mafia! is not The Naked Gun. It’s not even Hot Shots!. The jokes come at you fast, and not all of them land (a few are really dated, and some gags stretch on a little too long). But if you have a soft spot for goofy, old-school parody films—the kind that throw everything at the screen just to see what sticks—you’ll probably find yourself laughing more than you’d like to admit.

And let’s be honest—there’s something refreshingly dumb about a movie that doesn’t try to be anything other than a 90-minute joke machine. In a world of overly serious mob dramas, Mafia! is the comedy hit job we didn’t know we needed.

Final Verdict: A Dumb, Glorious Mess

It’s not a classic, but Mafia! is the kind of movie you throw on at 2 AM when you just want something stupid and fun. If you like your comedy with rapid-fire gags, mob movie spoofs, and Lloyd Bridges being effortlessly hilarious, this one’s for you.

Final Verdict: 3.5 out of 5 exploding meatballs.