User Reviews

"Maria Mafiosi" is a German movie from 2017, so not really a new or old film and this one is also known under the working title "Jeder sehnt sich nach Familie", which makes clear that, despite the Italian influence, this is at its core a German film that is also mostly in the German language. The writer and director is Jule Ronstedt and she is in fact a prolific actress herself and this is her only filmmaking credit. I cannot say too much about her acting skill right no becaue she does not appear in this film, but her efforts behind the camera are only alright if we give her a lot of credit because she has never made a film before. It says here on imdb that this runs for 92 minutes, but the version I saw ran for 85 only overall. Maybe they cut the closing credits short or altered other stuff because this was in fact a theatrical release and you don't see it too often that one of the smaller German television channels shows theatrical releases in the afternoon, but here we have an exception. Anyway, you see the title character on the poster here on imdb and I must say that, on several occasions, I thought this was a bit of a female-centered version of the Eberhofer/Bezzel crime comedies that usually carry types of food in the title that exist, but still sound slightly comedic, so while there is no food in the title here, they still gave an actually serious term a comedic note. I must say I am not too much a fan of the title here, but admittedly it is still better than the long version they had in mind. There are more parallels. One would be that the central character is also a cop and her personal life is a key part of the story. Another would be that there is a fair share of dark comedy here and there is more violence in here than you would expect from a movie shown on German afternoon television. And of course, the final parallel, but maybe the biggest, is that the films are set in similar regions in South Germany.

Now away from this other film and let's just take a look at this one here: It is obviously very Italian-centered and they just cannot make an entirely harmless film when it comes to Mafia business. However, that they start right away with one character killing another by taking away the chair he stands on was a surprise to me. This scene alone would have been enough to depict the guy who takes the chair as the main antagonist, but they really did their best to make him seem harmless despite this gruesome act. What did they do? They have the guy who stands on the chair complain like a madman and say there will be big revenge. They have a slightly creepy guy (who really cares for the title character though) for us to despise as well and really hope the child is not his. This implies that Maria as in bed with him? Anyway, honorable movie by the man that he is ready to accept the child as his, even if it is not his. So yeah, why again are we supposed to find the man unlikable? Oh right because Maria despises his neediness, yet clearly sent signs before the film started that she could be interested in him as well. What a wicked wicked man. And finally, perhaps the biggest factor: They included a cold-blooded killer to go up against the protagonist and his beloved one the the family of his beloved one as well. By then, we really should have forgotten what the mobster dad did at the very start because even if he may be evil, the other guys are far more evil. Oh well, tough for me to accept this approach. Still I must say that when they kill the bad guy, it is kinda funny how they are about to deal with his remains at the very end, which is somewhat closure and an example of the dark comedy I mentioned earlier. But if this alone makes up for weaker moments before that like for example when the villain watches the two kiss (what an unrealistic coincidence he is there that very moment) is up to you to decide. I say no. In general you could say that this film is constantly walking the fine line between being entertaining and being over the top in an annoying manner. A great example for that is the scene when they stop the car with the driver and bride and tell them to leave and never return. Or at the exact same time when the male protagonistg (actually played by a Turkish actor, not an Italian) flees from the chapel because he realized that he wants somebody else. Now that was definitely a bit cheesy, even if they tried to make it look funny with how the older woman (mother?) tries to stop him. Guess what, actually going for it instead of waving with your hands and shouting makes it more likely to happen that you indeed catch him. Still this conflict was a bit of a nothing scene too, just like almost every more dramatic inclusion, because the Italian family so quickly accepted that her son would be with a German woman. Funnily enough, it was frequently more difficult to understand the Germans here because of their thick accents than the Italians (when they were speaking German for once). So overall, this film succeeded occasionally as a comedy, but not always, but those few occasions when it went for (crime) drama were certainly not a quality achievement. The best example is the inclusion of the title character's dad and the scenes thay have together and the tension during these scenes. It felt almost impossible for me to take this film seriously from any perspective. Luckily, as a comedy, it fellt as if it did not really want to be taken seriously. Finally, there is of course the obligatory happy ending we always get from these films with the two lovebirds being not only a couple, but parents even. It's alright. That did not feel too unrealistic there. Overall, you can see that this is not a television release originally by the fact that it is better than 95% of movies shown here on German afternoon television. But this is mostly because said films are really that bad and not really because this one here iis particularly good. It felt mostly bland and uninspired, even if it is not a failure I'd say. My suggestion, however, is that you skip the watch here and instead go for one of the aforementioned Eberhofer movies. They are truly hilarious at times. This one here is not. Just a shallow copy. Thumbs down.