Corky Romano

Review by Clint Morris

American comedy program Saturday Night Live has opened up countless doors for the populace. Think of the comedy greats - Murray, Belushi, Aykroyd, Murphy - they've all been a part of the long-running comedy series and all going on to prolonged success with other projects.

These days SNL, as it is affectionately known, still has a reasonably good array of talent on show - Adam Sandler, Molly Shannon, Wil Ferrel - but obviously someone behind the scenes isn't preparing it's students for the doors outside of the NBC Studios - in particular, the script choosing process.

Corky Romano is a starring vehicle for SNL's Chris Kattan, he of the renowned Roxy nightclub sketch, and if this is any indication as to the class of film Kattan will get presented from here on, I hope for his sake he doesn't quit his day job. As good as he is on SNL, not even he can save the brainless circus travelling here.

Lovable klutz Corky (Kattan) works in a veterinary surgery, unlike the rest of his family who all work for the Mafia. Pops Ramano (Falk) is desperate - he has discovered that he's under indictment and needs someone to infiltrate the FBI and get rid of the incriminating evidence. Who better than his estranged - but weird-ass - son, Corky?

Thrown into a boiling pot of uncertainty by his Father and mobster brothers, Corky goes undercover as an FBI Agent. However, there's a hurdle in his way - and she's blonde, beautiful and armed (Shaw).

Although harmless, Corky Romano is the kind of film you wished had been just as funny as the film's trailer leads you to believe. In the trailer, there's a really funny moment where Corky is cruising around in his car with 80's shocker Take on Me by A-Ha playing on the radio, with Corky joining in on chorus. Maybe a few more 'corkers' in the trailer-shot, and this one might have been worth Half-Price Tuesday.

The wonky plot doesn't do much to salvage those brief moments of hilarity. It's idiocy, 90 minutes worth of it, and for all the toilet-humour, beautiful babes, screen dumbo's and life lessons, the overpowering thing that comes shining through in Corky Romano is it's inexistent script.

2 out of 5

Corky Romano
Australian release: Commences Thursday February 14th
Cast: Chris Kattan, Vinessa Shaw, Peter Falk, Peter Berg, Chris Penn.
Director: Rob Pritts
Website: Click here

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