Set in the 1930's, this gangster spoof tells the comic tale of a Johnny Kelly (Michael Keaton) who is forced into a life of crime in order to pay for his ailing mother's medical treatment. Attempting to keep his straight life and his life of crime separate Johnny takes the name Dangerously and is soon a powerful mobster flush with women and riches. The Dangerously name is about to be slandered, though, by the Kelly family when Johnny's brother (Griffin Dunne) becomes the district attorney.