between two very serious and successful gangster movies ( Scarface and The Untouchable ), DePalma shot another crime epic called in the 80's called Wise Guys. Well, he changed one's tack here completely. Wise Guys may handle about emotionless gangsters and vengeful extorts, it is in fact a wacky comedy and a light-hearted spoof towards the genre that DePalma loves so much himself. All the stereotypical mob-characters are there and all the gangster-clichés are being mocked (the scene where DeVito has to start the big Boss ' car while everybody is waiting for the possible bomb to explode is hilarious). DeVito and Piscopo are still only errand-boys for the Newark mafia and they're sick of their jobs. They want to do a little double-cross on the mob but they fail completely and have to run for their lives. That is more or less the plot of Wise Guys but there are enough extra twists and surprises added to this to give you a very good time...a great ending included. Of course, it doesn't come close to the other gangster-epics DePalma shot do to its playful character. But I guess DePalma and the complete cast was aware of that as well. In general, a nice change and fun to watch...the only irritating aspect from time to time is DeVito's overacting!
