Corky Romano (2001)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Features:

• Corky Romano: All Access
  
• Extended Scenes
  

Corky Romano (Kattan) is an aspiring veterinarian who just also happens to be the son of noted Mafia Don "Pops" Romano (Falk). When Pops is framed for murder, the family brings Corky back in to go undercover for the family. They want him to infiltrate the FBI's office to steal the evidence the Feds have against their family. Corky, while acquiring the evidence, learns that perhaps his father isn't in the landscaping business as he had always been led to believe.

It's silly, but it works somehow. Kattan's Romano is so absolutely ridiculous that you have no choice but to just accept the fact that none of the other characters notice what a buffoon he is. The plot is fairly straightforward for these types of films and the characters are blatantly two dimensional. All of the scenes are forged in such a way to allow the most silliness from Kattan as possible. But I still say it works. The only thing that I can attribute it to is that Corky is allowed to grow and change because of his adventures with the FBI, and it's not so drastic as to be unbelievable.

Falk is believable as the aging matriarch and Penn and Berg craft characters that are just outlandish enough to believe that Corky could come from the same gene pool, but not so much that they upstage the star of the film. Perhaps the strongest part of the secondary cast is Matthew Glave. His Agent Brick Davis is a cross between Jack Webb and Jack the Ripper and he plays it out beautifully. Vinessa Shaw wasn't given enough room in the script to grow as she needed, but she does quite well with what she's given.

The DVD is a disappointment. There are only two extended scenes and the Corky Romano: All Access segment which is like watching paint dry. It supposedly takes you from location shoot to final product for one of the scenes in the movie, but all it really does is show you how painstakingly boring and unglamorous filmmaking can be at times. There is no narration, only on-the-set film of them shooting the scene from various angles, showing you the raw footage from each take, and then showing you the final product as it appeared in the film. This could have been interesting if it had something which kept it cohesive rather than just presenting the raw production.

It's a decent laugh, and I recommend renting it sometime, but refrain from putting it in your collection.