BEFORE: I had originally scheduled "Easy Rider" as today's film, but then I realized that Jimmy Hoffa's (alleged) ties to the mob made this film a better follow-up.
THE PLOT: A professional hit man and hit woman fall in love, only to discover that they have each been hired to kill the other.
AFTER: I don't like IMDB's description of the plot - they oversimplified it. I felt that the entire storyline was much too complicated, there were a few too many coincidences and reversals. And it wasn't funny enough to be a mob satire, or any kind of comedy, really.
Also, there were a few too many characters - how many people does it take to run a crime family? I was led to believe (by Hollywood, of course) that there could only be one boss in each family - but there are several "Dons" here in the Prizzi family, and that made things too confusing.
This was made back when Kathleen Turner (last seen in "The Jewel of the Nile") was very easy on the eyes - but that means it's also hard to take her seriously as a hitman, er, hitwoman. And who marries the man that kills her husband, just a few days later? Either that's a cold woman, or she's playing the hitman.
Actually, it's hard to get a reading on anyone's motives in this film, because the situations are constantly shifting, and people are forced to turn against each other - I guess that's life in the mob, but it sure makes a movie hard to follow.
Also starring William Hickey (last seen in "Christmas Vacation"), Robert Loggia (last seen in "Armed and Dangerous"), Anjelica Huston (last seen in "Choke"), John Randolph (also last seen in "Christmas Vacation"), and Lawrence Tierney (last seen in "Armageddon")
RATING: 4 out of 10 silencers
JACK-O-METER: 5 out of 10. A couple of OK moments here, but for the most part he's pretty restrained, considering the circumstances. The mob's trying to rub you out, don't you think you should be a little more upset about that?
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