For many
people, family members are ties that run strong, and despite
differences that may arise amongst members, people hold a
special place for those in their family, and accept their
quirks and annoying behaviors, even if for some this acceptance
is given only in small doses.
Ah, but what is one to do with the proverbial Black Sheep
of the family? Most of us have someone in our family that
is a bit different than the norm, and while they can be an
embarrassment at times, they are still family, and as such
many of their quirks are forgiven even if they are joked about
amongst relatives.
However,
what is one to do when you are a member of a powerful crime
family and your Black Sheep is so against the family norm,
that his very presence is a source of embarrassment to you
and all of your dealings? Well, if you are the head of the
family, you send your problem away and keep him from the family
circle.
Such is
the case for Corky Romano (Chris Kattan), a good natured assistant
Veterinarian, who dreams of one day having his own practice
as he tools around his Florida town, in his yellow sports
car with its "free hugs" bumper sticker as he animatedly
sings along to 80's music.
Corky is an easygoing guy with a fondness for making people
happy and bright colors. He is as quick with a nice word or
good deed, as he is with his smile that he displays at the
drop of a hat. All seems well in Corky's world until he gets
a call from his family.
It seems
that the Federal Government is about to put Corky's father
Pops (Peter Falk), away, and since his brothers, (Chris Penn,
and Peter Berg), as well as everyone the family is associated
with are under surveillance, and have a dossier on them, Corky
is the only one who can infiltrate the FBI and retrieve the
evidence against his father.
Despite
his brother's reservations, they force a hacker to create
a FBI profile for Corky and send him into the FBI to save
their father. Naturally the good natured and quirky Corky
is not happy with the task given him, and only goes along
with it, as he wants to get in good with his ailing father
and does not want to see him spend his final years in jail.
Things
take an unexpected turn, when Corky is put on a special task
force in charge of stopping a serial killer. It seems that
the hacker who created his profile wanted to make sure he
did not draw the wrath of Cork's family and created a profile
for Corky as a Harvard educated superagent. This gets him
on good standing with his boss (Richard Roundtree), but does
the head of the task force (Matthew Glave) shun him.
All is
not lost for Corky, as he meets the shapely agent Russo (Vinessa
Shaw), and sets out to melt her icy, professional exterior
and become a friend to her. It seems Russo is always being
handled differently from her co-workers as she is a woman,
and she longs to be treated as the other members of the agency
are. In Corky, she finds a person who is different from the
agency type and very modest about himself and his accomplishments.
Despite
having no formal training, Corky manages to be of great use
to the FBI, as he is able to resolve situations he is presented
with in the line of duty ranging from crime scene investigations,
to hostage situations, through his easy going charm and blind
luck. As his star rises in the agency, so do the laughs.
Rob Pritts
who is making his feature debut directed the film, and in
some ways the direction is what hurts the film the most. Kattan
rose to stardom through Saturday Night Live, and despite roles
in "A Night at the Roxbury" and the forgettable
"Monkey Bone", and as many a Saturday Night Live
performer has found, the transition from sketch based comedy
to feature length films difficult. While segments of "Corky"
do have some funny moments, most of the film suffers from
an erratic pacing and jokes that are poorly setup and executed.
One such scene is an undercover operation where Corky is supposed
to translate two different languages to English amongst rival
factions. What should be a very funny scene, quickly becomes
mimicking dialogue and a very badly staged free for all.
Worse
yet, none of the characters are fully developed as they are
all charactures of previous, and in many cases, better done
crime films. The family just stands around or in Falk's case,
lays around waiting for Corky to appear so they can administer
the slapstick head slaps, and send him on his way again to
the next comedy sequence. The film seems much like Corky,
lost and stumbling about, unsure what it is to do next. The
transition between many scenes lacks any real flow and it
seems a like Saturday Night Live sketch. Scenes are setup
as a comic segments with loose transitions that serve only
to move the characters to the next comedic setup without using
the time for character development or setting up the comedic
segments.
Kattan is a funny performer but it seems that the camera was
tuned on him and he was told to be funny. The fish out of
water jokes ran thin thirty minutes into the film and Kattan
strains himself to be funny, but the material and direction
cause him to fail far more than he succeeds. What was a good
idea, quickly fades and becomes just another forgettable comedy
from a Saturday Night alum. Here is hoping that Kattan can
get matched with a script that is worthy of his talents.
2.5 stars out of 5
Gareth Von Kallenbach
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