Review of Wise Guys

Wise Guys (1986)
What a Fun Movie! Two shmoes tick off the Godfather!
28 December 1998
This has to be Brian dePalma's best film to date. Danny DeVito and Joe Piscopo are two losers who get the crummiest jobs and errands from a Newark mob boss (Dan Hedaya). After truly "dissing" the mob boss to the tune of $100,000, our two heroes head to Atlantic City for safety. However, they travel in the prized convertible of the bosses tough, enormous right hand man, Frankie (Captain Lou Albano in a hysterical, priceless performance) They even have Frankie's gold card! Thru elaborate, strange run-ins, DeVito and Piscopo wipe out the entire Newark mob clan, and live happily ever after. The performances are all over the top, and it's great! Hedaya's mob boss who prays when he's at his angriest, DeVito's unbearable older female relatives, Hedaya's mob (Including Frank Vincent in a haircut and sunglasses only mobsters wear), and Harvey Kietel doing a wonderful, soft-spoken turn as the well respected Atlantic City mob boss. The physical comedy is wonderful. We know Frankie is annoyingly careful with his "baby", a classic convertible. When DeVito and Piscopo get revenge by taking it out on the highway and guzzling fast food (and smearing it all over the dashboard!), you'll either howl with laughter or just gape. Sample dialog: Mobster looking at big piece of fabric: "Frankie, Awfully strange looking pillowcase." Frankie (Mad as Hell): "That's not my pillowcase, that's my underwear!"
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