Mobsters and Mormons started off with a scene that brought me back to the first time I watched Pulp Fiction. Mark DeCarlo took the place of Samuel Jackson and his buddies got to play something of an even more inept John Travolta. The entire opening bit was great, as far as I am concerned. The movie just seems to lose its steam after Mark DeCarlo's character, Carmine, and his family are relocated to Utah.
Almost every single person they meet out in the land of salt flats and Mormons seems to be portrayed by an actor that hardly knows their part. The only two characters I really felt anything for, outside of the "Cheeseman" family, were Julie (played by Olesya Rulin) and her brother, Michael. (played by Scott Christopher) While this is probably because their characters were the two outside of the "Cheeseman" family that experienced the most development over the course of the movie, (I might even go out on a limb and say they were the ONLY characters to be developed) I still think that there were plenty of chances to flesh out other members of the community that were not taken advantage of.
On top of all of this, the story was all too predictable. Now, this isn't always a bad thing, but it definitely was in this case. The only thing that happened which surprised me was the fact that their family didn't end up moving to the Philippines at the end of the movie. The only thing that saved this movie from the pitfalls of the story were the aforementioned actors efforts to believably play their roles throughout, which actually managed to tug on my heartstrings a little bit.
Overall a decent movie, definitely not something I will watch often, if I ever watch it again at all.
Almost every single person they meet out in the land of salt flats and Mormons seems to be portrayed by an actor that hardly knows their part. The only two characters I really felt anything for, outside of the "Cheeseman" family, were Julie (played by Olesya Rulin) and her brother, Michael. (played by Scott Christopher) While this is probably because their characters were the two outside of the "Cheeseman" family that experienced the most development over the course of the movie, (I might even go out on a limb and say they were the ONLY characters to be developed) I still think that there were plenty of chances to flesh out other members of the community that were not taken advantage of.
- Spoilers Ahead -
On top of all of this, the story was all too predictable. Now, this isn't always a bad thing, but it definitely was in this case. The only thing that happened which surprised me was the fact that their family didn't end up moving to the Philippines at the end of the movie. The only thing that saved this movie from the pitfalls of the story were the aforementioned actors efforts to believably play their roles throughout, which actually managed to tug on my heartstrings a little bit.
Overall a decent movie, definitely not something I will watch often, if I ever watch it again at all.