It's no wonder that the movie had a horrendously short box office run. It's a Grade A stinker with little comic timing, an asinine concept and virtually no script. It's obvious that this is a vehicle for Kattan, but what's more obvious is that he can't drive. Hanging this movie on his spastic gestures and impish look fails drastically. It's not that Kattan is incapable of being humorous; he's often great on SNL, and Night at the Roxbury was an overlooked gem. It's just that Corky Romano feels like it's been cobbled together for the sake of a few sequences, none of which are actually funny.
The DVD doesn't add much to the experience. It's passable from a technical standpoint, but lean on extras. Anyone who isn't a card-carrying Chris Kattan fan should stay away.
The Movie
The story of Corky Romano is a simple one. Corky is a fancy lad. He's not like his big, tough brothers (Peter Berg and Chris Penn), or hard-as-nails mob boss father (played apathetically by Peter Falk). No, he's a veterinarian, and a panty-waist, to boot. Therefore, he's a constant embarrassment who's been 86'ed from the family... until he becomes their only hope.
When the father is threatened by an investigation by the FBI, Corky is sent in to pose as an agent and destroy any evidence the Bureau may have. As you would expect, the job proves to be harder than anyone originally expects, so Corky has to spend more time at the FBI than originally intended. But get this: he bumbles his way into the good graces of the FBI director by accidentally apprehending criminals, and helping to bust up a narcotics ring.
The whole thing is so embarrassingly improbable and ridiculous that it impossible to suspend disbelief. That Corky got on to the force with a forged identity, and a background no one seemed to check, is one of a hundred problems with this film. I could chalk up a lot of these moments as necessary if the film were remotely humorous. But it isn't. There were pranks that had potential--Corky accidentally getting coated in cocaine, or having to dress as a girl scout in order to go undercover--but even these were spoiled by a heavy-handed treatment and constant mugging by Kattan.
To make matters worse, Peter Falk, Peter Berg and Chris Penn are in full paycheck-collect mode. I would be, too, given the characters they're forced to play. Falk is a stereotypical mob father, Penn is a hotheaded thug who just so happens to be gay, and Peter Berg (Oscar clip here) is the neglected son who never learned to read. On the FBI side, there's the boss who buys into all of Corky's nonsense (Richard Roundtree), the stoic but cute agent (Vinessa Shaw), and the underhanded heel Brick Davis (Matthew Glave). The characterizations are one-dimensional and insulting across the board. The only person who gets to show any range is Kattan, and as noted above, even that's debatable.
It always puzzles me when movies like this see the light of day. This script is so nonsensical and ill-advised, it isn't funny. Get it? It isn't funny. But I've said that before.
2 out of 10
The Audio
The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. I haven't run across a comedy yet that is a great audio showcase piece, and that's the case here, but the audio gets the job done. Nothing lacking, but nothing special either, mainly dude to the nature of the film.
8 out of 10
The Video
Again, the video is technically decent, although not flashy. It's presented in 1.85:1 widescreen, and enhanced for 16X9 TVs, so you can see Kattan's kiester all the better.
8 out of 10
The Extras
There are few extras on the disc, and those that are just serve to extend the annoyance. The most substantial of the extras is a short documentary called "Corky Romano: All Access," where we see multiple takes of the infamous "fart squeak" sequence being filmed. What was unfunny in the movie is absolutely excruciating here, as we see take after take of Kattan bending over Chris Penn and Peter Berg trying, and failing, to squeeze out a revenge stinker in the midst of his FBI investigation. The only thing the process showed me was how thoroughly inane the scene was, and made me question why there were dozens of people around trying to make it happen.
As for other extras, there are a couple of extended sequences, but one thing this movie didn't need to be was longer. Appropriate extras might have been a blooper reel, or a Chris Kattan commentary, but I doubt anyone wanted to waste any more time on this project. You shouldn't either.
2 out of 10
Overall impression: 3 out of 10
