Godfather 4: Sins of the Grandfather
Michael Vito Fredo Santino Corleone hails from a lineage of proud Italiano-Americans. Like his grandfather and semi-namesake, the protagonist before him, he suffers as only one with elevated intellect surrounded by philistines can: by shaking his head, muttering, and planning for the next disaster.
Michael has inherited both a surname and a dream: to make the family business legitimate. A series of car washes and laundromats in New Jersey technically constitute an empire, but one with limited upside. He longs to see Corleone emblazoned in something other than neon, printed in the business pages rather than the police blotter.
To that end he uses the surplus from the prostitutes and cocaine trade, conveniently embedded within the aforementioned businesses, to finance a back room stem cell research operation in Paterson, NJ. Burdened by vociferously doubtful constituents within his family and his Family, with profits dwindling, Mikey needs a breakthrough.
Enter Bart Corleone. Hailing from an equally proud yet ignominious lineage of illegitimate Corleones, Bart possesses the charming smile and killer instinct of his forefathers. Caked in blood from a hit, he returns to his apartment in Bayonne one evening with some takeout capiccola, only to find that his pothead roommate, Phil, has passed out on the couch watching Breaking Bad. To make matters worse, the remote is lost! Bart is put off by the unfamiliar topography and scientific vernacular of the program at first, but unable to turn the channel, he forcibly acclimates to the misadventures of Walt and Jesse. By the time Phil wakes up, Bart is enraptured. Capiccola consumed, he calls up his cousin Michael.
“What now?”
“Cuz, I’ve got it.”
Mike has been reviewing financials. His Hugo Boss suit is rumpled. One cuff link is missing, gone. He has no time for his idiot cousin.
“What have you got Bart?”
“Meth!”
“Congratulations, you’ve admitted to a felony.”
“No cuz.” Bart is laughing now while Phil sits terrified on the couch. Sober for the first time in months, he recognizes that it is not marinara staining his roommate’s hands. “We sell it!”
The laboratory in Paterson is split by a sheet. Employees work in double shifts, cooking meth and exploring genome manipulation, while Bart charts lines of distribution and Mike brushes up on his Excel proficiency.
Familial bonds will be tested when one inquisitive lab tech notices a desperate tweaker staggering around the parking lot. Will he go to the Feds? Will Bart verify his legitimacy after finding Phil’s laptop open to Ancestry.com? Will Michael legitimize the business, be forced to murder his shareholders, or pursue a long dormant passion, and enroll at University of Phoenix?
