Character Analysis
No, we're not talking about the English band whose song "Chelsea Dagger" has become the Chicago Blackhawks' goal song. We're talking about their namesake: the most dangerous crime family in Astoria, Oregon.
The Three Scrooges
If you ever wanted a convincing argument for nurture over nature, this might be it.
Any time you're feeling like your mom isn't your favorite person in the world, play this movie. Anne Ramsey, the actress playing Mama Fratelli does such a bang-up job playing a bad mama that she played another one in the movie Throw Mama from the Train. (Hopefully the typecasting isn't based in reality.)
And so, because Mama Fratelli is an absolutely vile human being, and because she never had any desire to raise her sons to be any better than she was, they turned out like they did. That is to say…pretty awful:
FRANCIS: Mom, why'd you have to shoot the guy?
MAMA: He's a Fed.
FRANCIS: We could have taken him to the side of the road, in the car, and "bing," we shoot him, in the brain.
The only one who turns out all right—although it sounds funny to say it—is Lotney, a.k.a. Sloth. We find out that he got dropped on his head a few times as a baby (another example of Mama's five-star parenting), which had to be both physically and emotionally scarring. (Speaking of emotionally scarring: "Lotney"? Really?)
Francis (Joe Pantoliano) and Jake (Robert Davi) weren't so lucky. Those two really never had a chance. You know what they say: when you're being raised by Voldemort, you don't grow up to be Dumbledore. (Okay, maybe we're the only ones who say that.)
The Fratellis' Timeline