Mafia Mamma
Bleecker Street Media | Release Date: April 14, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
42
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
12
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshApr 14, 2023
This high-concept romp demands an over-the-top and facile narrative, and some of the bits are a bit hackneyed, but Mafia Mamma is much more wacky, funny and violent than the too-tame trailers would have you believe. Collette goes for broke in her performance and Hardwicke juggles the tone, style and genre play with ease. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleApr 12, 2023
Mafia Mamma is a one-joke movie, but it finds ways to keep that one joke funny for 100 minutes. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeApr 12, 2023
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. Read full review
67
IndieWireJude DryApr 12, 2023
Though it’s all satisfyingly silly, Mafia Mamma never quite find its tone. Hardwicke doesn’t seem to know if she’s doing Quentin Tarantino or Mel Brooks, and the two styles are so far apart that splitting the difference lands the movie out at sea. Read full review
60
Screen RantRachel LaBonteApr 12, 2023
While it might've been nice for Mafia Mamma to reveal more details about Kristin's ascension as a mob boss, its humor and Collette's performance make it a solid ride anyway. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubIan SpellingApr 13, 2023
If it all sounds silly, it is. But it works, far, far better than it should, for one main reason. Well, two, actually. The mighty Toni Collette (who also co-produced the movie) stars as Kristin, and she delivers a funny, touching, and effervescent performance that sweeps you along in its wake. Monica Bellucci plays Bianca oh-so-drolly and bounces beautifully off of Collette. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisApr 13, 2023
It’s like someone’s always turning the knob in one direction, and then in another in Mafia Mamma, rarely settling on any mood with clear reception. It can be a frustrating farrago. Read full review
50
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckApr 12, 2023
Despite some satisfying moments, by the increasingly cringe-worthy last third of the movie you’re just annoyed that it seems to want to cover all bases — to have its, er, cannoli and eat it, too. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreApr 12, 2023
A few flashes of humor — in court (Jenny is a lawyer), in the romantic clutches and in (violent) action — and Collette’s career-long likability are all Mafia Mamma has going for it. It’s not enough. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonApr 12, 2023
It is a shame that director Catherine Hardwicke’s film cannot match its star’s inspired turn, settling for a likeable but strained fish-out-of-water tale. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckApr 12, 2023
In contrast to Bellucci, who underplays in dignified fashion, Collette works hard, very hard, to sell the concept and her character. That she fails is not an insult to her formidable gifts, but rather due to the flimsiness of the material, which seems better suited to the small screen. Read full review
45
TheWrapTomris LafflyApr 12, 2023
While Hardwicke’s direction is slick across picturesque Italian locations and various high-octane set pieces that are shockingly bloody, there isn’t a lot she can do to rescue Collette’s fish-out-of-water protagonist from a lackluster mafia comedy with romantic undertones. Read full review
42
ColliderChase HutchinsonApr 12, 2023
There is never a sense that Collette is phoning it in, but the entire narrative around her is just too flimsy to hold together for a full feature. In isolation, there are some solid gags and throwaway jokes that connect. The trouble is that they are just increasingly few and far between. It all makes for a film that oddly feels like it is playing it safe, relying on the charisma of its lead and offering little else beyond that. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawNov 15, 2023
Not even the fierce wattage of Toni Collette’s talent can light up this hokey crime comedy. Read full review
40
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Anne T. DonahueMay 15, 2023
Wasting Collette’s comedic talent and Monica Bellucci’s commanding onscreen presence, the film takes what could be a subversive comment on female rage and turns it into slapstick, failing to give any character enough dimension to warrant spending 90 minutes with them. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesMichael RechtshaffenApr 13, 2023
The execution struggles from the outset to find a sustainable comedic pitch. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comMarya E. GatesApr 14, 2023
Mafia Mamma lives in the uncanny valley between incompetent and unwatchable. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonApr 12, 2023
While Mafia Mamma fails as a comedy, it succeeds in delivering the graphically violent moments one expects from a movie about the Mafia. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperApr 12, 2023
Run, don’t walk, away from any temptation you might have to see the off-putting, unfunny, clunky and cartoonishly terrible would-be mob comedy “Mafia Mamma,” which is so lacking in subtlety, cohesion and humor, it makes “Murder Mystery 2” seem like a Rian Johnson thriller. Read full review
37
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanApr 12, 2023
It’s all played for laughs, which fail to materialize in a story that milks easy cliches and stereotypes about Italians, pasta and sexual double-entendres, with icky dialogue about “spicy sausage” and the like. Read full review
25
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliApr 13, 2023
A comedy without a single funny joke, Mafia Mamma will likely go down as one of the year’s worst theatrical releases. Read full review
22
Paste MagazineJesse HassengerApr 12, 2023
Even in Kristin’s quietest, most contemplative moments, Collette can’t stop bugging her eyes or yanking down her mouth – which, to be fair, is a natural reaction to being repeatedly poisoned over the course of 101 endless minutes. Read full review
20
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisApr 13, 2023
Trite, charmless and entirely without grace, Mafia Mamma weaves a wearying string of Mob chestnuts into a shallow empowerment narrative. Read full review
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