Corky Romano (PG-13) ★★

The wacky black sheep of a crime family has a chance to get back into his family's good graces by posing as an FBI agent. Star Chris Kattan has some great moments--it's just too bad the story lapses into outright silliness.

Story

Welcome to the world of klutzy assistant veterinarian Corky Romano (Kattan), who loves bad '80s music and is, by nature, a cheery fellow. However, he is also the son of an organized crime family who was kicked out long ago for not fitting in. Hmm, wonder why? When the family, including ''Pops'' Romano (Peter Falk) and his two dysfunctional sons, Peter (Peter Berg) and Paulie (Chris Penn), come under FBI investigation, they convince Corky to go undercover and join the FBI to disrupt the case. Corky becomes the darling of the bureau through no fault of his own, which irks its resident jerk (Matthew Glave) who loathes Corky from the start. Seems Corky's bogus FBI résumé has been beefed up to enable him to gain access to his father's case file. It all ends predictably happy.

Acting

Saturday Night Live's Kattan is at his best when going out on the comedy limb and as Corky, he climbs out with élan rather than dropping with a sickening thud. Corky is a fun character, infused with that manic energy Kattan displays so well in his SNL personas. He is very close to being able to carry this film. But alas, this isn't quite the role that could establish him as a leading man. Veteran Falk, who has about one moment where he is really funny, and Fred Ward, who plays the family's right-hand man, are the only other actors of Kattan's caliber in the film and their characters seem to have been watered down to allow Kattan to shine. The other performances, while serviceable, fall right into cardboard cutouts, especially those in the FBI. Clearly the casting was done with an eye on keeping the audience squarely focused on star Kattan. in star focus.

Direction

Unfortunately, keeping Kattan in the forefront is also one of the main problems with the film. It was nice watching all the comic's antics, laughing our butts off as he jerks his way down the aisle after inhaling a bunch of cocaine, but couldn't we have had a good story to go along with it? Here the story exists exclusively to provide setups for Kattan's gags. Do we have to see a bunch of FBI agents make fools of themselves, again? The film seems to follow the same route other SNL stars have taken recently, focusing on the comedian rather than the film as a whole. At least Corky is not based on one of Kattan's SNL characters. Will Ferrell seems to be one of the only SNL members to have mostly steered clear of any star-making opportunities, seemingly satisfied with playing really funny supporting characters (not counting A Night at the Roxbury). Maybe Kattan would be better served following the lead of his good friend.

Bottom Line

Oh, you'll laugh watching Corky Romano, but you may walk away wondering why.