Mafia comedy

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Mafia comedy films are a sub-genre hybrid of comedy films and crime/gangster films.

Mafia comedies revolve around the mafia and a comedic plot line, usually a chase or a complicated situation involving the Mafia. Examples of mafia comedies include: The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, Some Like It Hot, The Whole Nine Yards, Wise Guys, Corky Romano, The Freshman, Jane Austen's Mafia!, Analyze This, Analyze That, and most recently, You Kill Me. In addition, an English crime thriller, In Bruges, which stars Colin Farrell, is also considered to be a Mafia comedy.

Many Crime/Gangster films involve a lot of comedic moments, especially during witty conversations between gang members. This can be seen in such films as Goodfellas, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Pulp Fiction.

A lot of the humour in such films is based upon the portrayal of gangsters as ordinary people. The perceived view of gangsters is that they are tough, serious, mysterious and often quite evil characters. So when a film portrays a side of normality to a gangster character, it can have a humorous effect.