Mafia comedy films are a sub-genre hybrid of comedy film

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

s and crime

Crime film

Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...

/gangster films.

Mafia comedies revolve around the mafia and a comedic plot line, usually a chase or a complicated situation involving the Mafia

Mafia

The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...

. Examples of mafia comedies include: The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight

The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight

The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight is a 1969 novel written by Jimmy Breslin and a film of the same name based on the book and released in 1971 starring Robert De Niro. The novel is a roman à clef of the life of Joey Gallo whose fictional counterpart, Kid Sally Palumbo, is played by Jerry Orbach...

, Some Like It Hot

Some Like It Hot

Some Like It Hot is an American comedy film, made in 1958 and released in 1959, which was directed by Billy Wilder and starred Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and George Raft. The supporting cast includes Joe E. Brown, Pat O'Brien and Nehemiah Persoff. The film is a remake by Wilder and I....

, "Oscar

Oscar (1991 film)

Oscar is a 1991 American comedy film directed by John Landis. Based on the Claude Magnier stage play, it is can be considered a remake of the 1967 film of the same name, but the settings has been moved to the Depression era New York City and centers around a mob boss trying to go straight...

", The Whole Nine Yards

The Whole Nine Yards (film)

The Whole Nine Yards is a 2000 American adventure crime comedy film directed by Jonathan Lynn, starring Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet, Michael Clarke Duncan and Natasha Henstridge. The title derives from a popular expression possibly dating from World War II naval aviation which means...

, Wise Guys

Wise Guys (film)

Wise Guys is a 1986 feature film directed by Brian De Palma and starring Danny DeVito and Joe Piscopo. A comedy revolving around two small-time mobsters from Newark, New Jersey, it also features Harvey Keitel, Lou Albano, Dan Hedaya, and Frank Vincent....

, Corky Romano

Corky Romano

Corky Romano is a 2001 film starring former Saturday Night Live cast member Chris Kattan. Also starring are Fred Ward, Vinessa Shaw, Roger Fan, and Dave Sheridan. The movie was directed by Rob Pritts and was written by David Garrett and Jason Ward. It was filmed at Touchstone Pictures studios...

, The Freshman

The Freshman (1990 film)

The Freshman is a 1990 American crime comedy film starring Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick, in which Brando parodies his portrayal of Vito Corleone in The Godfather....

, Jane Austen's Mafia!

Jane Austen's Mafia!

Mafia!, also known as Jane Austen's Mafia! is a 1998 comedy film directed by Jim Abrahams and starring Jay Mohr, Lloyd Bridges, Olympia Dukakis, and Christina Applegate. It spoofs Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather series and various other mafia films, notably Martin Scorsese's Casino...

, Analyze This

Analyze This

Analyze This is a 1999 gangster comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, who co-wrote the screenplay with playwright Kenneth Lonergan and Peter Tolan. The film stars Robert De Niro as a mafioso and Billy Crystal as a psychiatrist...

, Analyze That

Analyze That

Analyze That is a 2002 mafia comedy film, and a sequel to the 1999 film Analyze This. The film was directed and co-written by Harold Ramis and stars Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal who respectively reprise their roles as mobster Paul Vitti and psychiatrist Ben Sobel.-Plot:Near the completion of...

, and most recently, You Kill Me

You Kill Me

You Kill Me is 2007 crime comedy film directed by John Dahl, and starring Ben Kingsley, Luke Wilson, Téa Leoni, Philip Baker Hall, Dennis Farina, and Bill Pullman.-Plot:...

. In addition, an Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 crime thriller, In Bruges

In Bruges

In Bruges is a 2008 black comedy crime film written and directed by Martin McDonagh. The film stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two hitmen in hiding, with Ralph Fiennes as their gangster boss. The film takes place—and was filmed—within the Belgian city of Bruges. In Bruges was...

, which stars Colin Farrell

Colin Farrell

Colin James Farrell is an Irish actor, who has appeared in such film as Tigerland, Miami Vice, Minority Report, Phone Booth, The Recruit, Alexander and S.W.A.T....

, is also considered to be a Mafia comedy.

Many Crime

Crime film

Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...

/Gangster films involve a lot of comedic moments, especially during witty conversations between gang members. This can be seen in such films as Goodfellas

Goodfellas

Goodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese...

, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a 1998 British crime film directed and written by Guy Ritchie. The story is a heist film involving a self-confident young card sharp who loses £500,000 to a powerful crime lord in a rigged game of three card brag...

and Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction (film)

Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...

.

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.