It’s been a long eight years between projects – but it might be worth the “wait” for this ambitious and stacked sophomore feature. Piero Messina premiered L’attesa in 2015 at the Venice and Toronto Intl. Film Festivals, and his second film Another End has Gael Garcia Bernal, Renate Reinsve, Bérénice Bejo and Tim Daish to boot. Messina has mostly directed for television in-between. Production would have taken place in Italy at the beginning of the year. The Berlinale might attempt to lasso the film as well.
Gist: Set in a near-future when a new technology exists that can put the consciousness of a dead person back into a living body, in an attempt to ease the grief of separation, providing a little extra time to say goodbye.…...
Gist: Set in a near-future when a new technology exists that can put the consciousness of a dead person back into a living body, in an attempt to ease the grief of separation, providing a little extra time to say goodbye.…...
- 11/7/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Hmmm, now this is a strange bit of film release synergy. Now the big studio-wide release this weekend is Renfield which can be called a horror/comedy hybrid (though it’s also an action thriller satire). The other small studio flick also blends comedy with another very popular genre, crime. To be more specific it’s a crime-family comedy, hence the use of that “reviled” (to some) word. Oh, and there’s a “gender-switch” as a woman takes the seat at the head of the table for the “sit-down”. Hey, if there can be a godfather, then why not a Mafia Mamma?
The story kicks into high gear “across the pond” in the “old country”, Italy, soon after a gun battle that produces lots of casualties for both warring factions. This prompts a long-distance phone call from the Balbano family “advisor” Bianca (Monica Bellucci) to a relative in the States,...
The story kicks into high gear “across the pond” in the “old country”, Italy, soon after a gun battle that produces lots of casualties for both warring factions. This prompts a long-distance phone call from the Balbano family “advisor” Bianca (Monica Bellucci) to a relative in the States,...
- 4/14/2023
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Plot: Follows an insecure American woman who unexpectedly inherits her grandfather’s mafia empire in Italy. Guided by the firm’s trusted consigliere, she hilariously defies everyone’s expectations, including her own, as the new head of the family business.
Review: The glut of movies out there means that viewers must be selective with what they watch, often relying on star power to draw them into a project. On the heels of her lead role in the Prime Video series The Power, Toni Collette lets loose and has some fun in Mafia Mamma. From director Catherine Hardwicke, Mafia Mamma is a comedy that would have been an abysmal failure with a weaker lead actress. Despite the copious references to The Godfather and surprising bloodshed, Mafia Mamma never rises above the cliche screenplay. The only saving grace is Collette, who has great comedic timing and dives into this film with energy...
Review: The glut of movies out there means that viewers must be selective with what they watch, often relying on star power to draw them into a project. On the heels of her lead role in the Prime Video series The Power, Toni Collette lets loose and has some fun in Mafia Mamma. From director Catherine Hardwicke, Mafia Mamma is a comedy that would have been an abysmal failure with a weaker lead actress. Despite the copious references to The Godfather and surprising bloodshed, Mafia Mamma never rises above the cliche screenplay. The only saving grace is Collette, who has great comedic timing and dives into this film with energy...
- 4/13/2023
- by Alex Maidy
- JoBlo.com
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...
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...
- 4/12/2023
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
In her own home, Italian American working mom Kristin Balbano Jordan (Toni Collette) is hardly the boss. When her deadbeat hubby isn’t cheating on her, he calls the shots, and her independent-minded son can’t wait to leave for college. At work, her male colleagues undermine her every idea. What Kristin doesn’t realize is that it’s not her destiny to be a doormat. Far from it. Come to find, she’s next in line to run Italy’s well-connected Balbano clan, and though Kristin couldn’t have imagined she was heir to an organized crime family, taking charge amounts to an offer she can’t refuse.
A fun fish-out-of-water farce with “Godfather” DNA and a clever female-empowerment kick, “Mafia Mamma” makes inspired use of Collette, who’s never better than when playing women we oughtn’t to have underestimated. Here, using stiletto heels to brutally stab a rival clan’s top assassin,...
A fun fish-out-of-water farce with “Godfather” DNA and a clever female-empowerment kick, “Mafia Mamma” makes inspired use of Collette, who’s never better than when playing women we oughtn’t to have underestimated. Here, using stiletto heels to brutally stab a rival clan’s top assassin,...
- 4/12/2023
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Toni Collette finds herself thrust into the thick of a mob war in the new trailer for Mafia Mamma, set to hit theaters on April 14.
The film boasts an extremely/endearingly silly premise: Collette plays a suburban housewife named Kristin who leaves her philandering husband to fly to Italy for the funeral of her estranged grandfather, only to learn that his dying wish was for her to succeed him as the new boss of the Balbano crime family. Obviously, only one thing can ensue from such a setup, and you...
The film boasts an extremely/endearingly silly premise: Collette plays a suburban housewife named Kristin who leaves her philandering husband to fly to Italy for the funeral of her estranged grandfather, only to learn that his dying wish was for her to succeed him as the new boss of the Balbano crime family. Obviously, only one thing can ensue from such a setup, and you...
- 2/28/2023
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
“Under the Tuscan Sun” meets “The Godfather” in the latest comedy from multi-hyphenate Toni Collette.
The “Hereditary” star plays an insecure American who inherits her grandfather’s mafia empire in Italy in “Mafia Mamma,” directed by Catherine Hardwicke. Guided by the firm’s trusted consigliere (Monica Bellucci), Collette hilariously defies everyone’s expectations, including her own, as the new head of the family business.
Giulio Corso, Francesco Mastroianni, Alfonso Perugini, Sophia Nomvete, Eduardo Scarpetta, Tim Daish, and Tommy Rodger also star.
Hardwicke directs from a script by Michael J. Feldman and Debbie Jhoon. Lead star Collette produces along with Christopher Simon and Amanda Sthers.
Hardwicke previously told IndieWire’s Kate Erbland that she strives to emphasize “complex female characters” onscreen.
“I think now, as women, we want to see somebody that takes charge of their life and does the very best they can in their power to escape, fight back,...
The “Hereditary” star plays an insecure American who inherits her grandfather’s mafia empire in Italy in “Mafia Mamma,” directed by Catherine Hardwicke. Guided by the firm’s trusted consigliere (Monica Bellucci), Collette hilariously defies everyone’s expectations, including her own, as the new head of the family business.
Giulio Corso, Francesco Mastroianni, Alfonso Perugini, Sophia Nomvete, Eduardo Scarpetta, Tim Daish, and Tommy Rodger also star.
Hardwicke directs from a script by Michael J. Feldman and Debbie Jhoon. Lead star Collette produces along with Christopher Simon and Amanda Sthers.
Hardwicke previously told IndieWire’s Kate Erbland that she strives to emphasize “complex female characters” onscreen.
“I think now, as women, we want to see somebody that takes charge of their life and does the very best they can in their power to escape, fight back,...
- 2/28/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
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