Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
God help this brave reviewer. Joe Friday took a bullet for you kids. Remember that. This man stepped up to the plate, leaned into the pitch, and took one right to the side of the head, and he did it for the team! The least you can do is read his review. After all, he's the one who had to actually see the movie...
Hey Harry, Joe Friday here giving you just the facts man, just the facts.
CORKY ROMANO is Chris Kattan's first starring vehicle and a rundown used car of a vehicle it is. Kattan, best known for his oddly-appealing if sexually-confusing Mango exotic dancer on Saturday Night Live and his co-starring role with Will Ferrell in "A Night at the Roxbury" as one half of the Butabi brothers, is going it more or less alone here as the pint-sized pipsqueak prodigal wayward son of mob boss Peter Falk (who's pretty much wasted in this movie, spending it mostly in his bed). Comic relief, such as it is, is provided by Corky's idiot brother Chris Penn and family henchman Fred Ward who actually is funny. Ward does a better slow burn than anyone.
As for Kattan's Corky, he's a happy go lucky veterinarian who loves to sing songs and doesn't have a violent bone in his body. He is then the very last guy you'd want to give an undercover assignment to. Or maybe the most likely candidate in terms of movie logic. Naturally Pops decides that Corky is the one who should be made to infiltrate the FBI to learn what evidence they really have on the family. The script by "Malcolm & Eddie" sit-com writers Dave Garett and Jason Ward unfolds like an episode of "The Michael Richards Show" which lasted all of four episodes before it was rightfully cancelled.
They have Corky applying to the FBI as Agent Pissant which tells you the level of humor here. Juvenile at best. The FBI administrators believe Corky to be a regular topnotch field agent and hijinks ensue with Corky getting into one "dangerous" situation after another using silly disguises for his undercover field work. Direction by Rob Pritts is pretty much standard and certainly adequate for a vehicle such as this. He keeps things moving along without much wasted effort but it's a thankless job. If he's lucky it'll make money and he'll get to move on to better quality material. Original "Shaft" man Richard Roundtree is entertaining as Corky's FBI supervisor and it's nice to see tough guy Roundtree back in action even if he's simply here for laughs.
Given that eventually every single person who's ever been a regular on Saturday Night Live gets his or her chance to star in a movie this isn't as bad as some of the other con jobs that have been foisted on audiences in the past (such as Tim Meadows "The Ladies Man" last year or Al Franken's "Stuart Smalley" disaster) but it's nothing to write home about. Kattan's irritating perpetual grin of goofy confusion wears thin after about 30 seconds and his high-pitched pansy voice made me feel like I was watching a Pee Wee Herman movie. The slapsticky scenes are mildly amusing but if you've seen the trailer then you've pretty much seen the entire movie. Is it worth the price of admission? Not really, you'd probably be better off catching it on cable or video. I'm not sure what else opens October 12th when this does, if it's a slow weekend and you're in the mood for a stupid comedy then you might like it. Given the popularity of The Sopranos lately I won't be surprised if it brings in the crowds looking for a spoof of that Mafia stuff. Teenagers are the target audience for this and they might enjoy it. Along with kids who will probably find Corky to be a real scream and senior citizens looking for something lighthearted.
As for me, I'm glad I saw it for free here at Disney. Dum-da-dum-dum!
Dum-da-dum-dum-dah! This is Detective Joe Friday, over and out.
