Mob movies are easy; comedy is hard. Putting the two together is an offer most filmmakers should refuse, and here’s a case in point. Low-level Los Angeles mobster Lenny (Steven Bauer) is missing, presumed dead, and also gone is the $5 million he was sent to deliver for New York wiseguy Mr. Thick (Armand Assante), who sends Shady (Steve Baker) to finish the job. Along the way, Shady encounters Lenny’s desperate-to-get-pregnant wife (Nicole Eggert), his comely girlfriend (Whitney Able), his neurosurgeon (John Heard) and his estranged brother (Joe Piscopo)—and they all want a cut of the cash. Writer/director/producer/editor/cinematographer Serge Rodnunsky doesn’t have the skill to mix Mob tension with sex farce comedy, so there is little of either to be found here. The “where have they been” cast is the only reason to take a look at Dead Lenny, and everybody is pretty scary looking at that, with the exception of the leggy Eggert and vapid Able.

Shelf Talk: Though there is a modicum of name recognition among consumers of a certain age—Piscopo, you’ll recall, left TV’s Saturday Night Live in 1984, attractive Eggert was one of the original Baywatch lifeguards and ’80s heartthrob Bauer resurfaced in Traffic in 2000—Home Alone’s Heard is the only one with recent TV exposure of note (Prison Break). Look for a MySpace page, an official Web site and a slew of videos on YouTube, and push Dead Lenny to those who made Analyze This and other Mob comedies substantial sellers.