Me and the Mob Reviews

ME AND THE MOB was released (barely) in 1994 as WHO DO I GOTTA KILL?, and, in an attempt to draw fans of MARRIED TO THE MOB, was renamed for its 1995 video release. No matter what name it goes by, though, this film is a tedious low-budget Mafia comedy that will undoubtedly disappoint those who are lured by the new title. Jimmy Corona (James Lorinz) is a writer who's down on his luck. He has a lousy agent and no inspiration. His girlfriend leaves him, he is banished from his favorite bar, and he is such a loser that he can't even kill himself. Desperate, Jimmy takes his agent's advice and decides to write a "real life crime story." He visits his uncle Tony (Tony Darrow), who works for crime boss Frankie "The Fixer"by Giochetti (Frank Gio). Jimmy asks to join "the business," hoping that he'll gather material for his novel. Tony welcomes Jimmy and teams him up with Billy "Bink-Bink" Borelle (John Costelloe). At first, Jimmy is a bumbling fool, but when he visits the bar, his former hangout, he gets tough and beats up the owner. Soon after, Jimmy is asked to kill a man. He is too afraid to do it, but the man dies of a heart attack as Jimmy and Frankie's men argue. Jimmy is picked up by the police and charged with the "murder." They say they'll let him go if he helps them to nab Frankie. The police hook Jimmy up with a wire, but the wire begins picking up radio broadcasts at the most inopportune time. Jimmy is beaten up and Frankie orders him to be executed. Tony and Billy take Jimmy away but spare his life. It turns out that Tony had been wired also. This would be great, but the police run out of money and decide to drop the case against Frankie. The three men, in fear of Frankie, hide out while Jimmy writes his book. All three are found and shot by Frankie's men, but they survive. While Jimmy and Tony are in the hospital recuperating, Frankie comes to visit. He too has written a book about the Mafia, and he beat Jimmy to the publisher. As the curtain falls, Tony and Jimmy end up running a fixed bingo game, and are beaten up by several old ladies. ME AND THE MOB is a silly, hackneyed story, made with little inspiration. Jimmy is not a particularly interesting character, and his predicament never excites the viewer. ME AND THE MOB has occasional clever dialogue, but the emphasis is put on the uninteresting plot and lame sight gags, such as Jimmy trying to slash his wrists with a safety razor. The only funny scene revolves around the mob's discussion of whether Jimmy should be credited with a real kill after his victim's heart attack. If the film had contained more clever conversations of that type, the low budget and cheap sets might not be as noticeable. Unfortunately, the presence of one good scene simply points out how pedestrian the rest of the film is. (Sexual situations, profanity.)