Corky Croaks

We've been here before.

Throw Chris Kattan into an absurd plot, then rely on his physical comedic talents to overcome the film's structural deficiencies. Remember Night at the Roxbury? Monkeybone? The formula is tried and true. It works for Jim Carrey. It worked for Chris Farley. Hell, it worked for Charlie Chaplin and Jerry Lewis.

There's one problem, though. Chris Kattan is not that funny. And when you can't be funnier than Jerry Lewis, you've got problems.

With his latest effort, Who Is Corky Romano?, Kattan has put the finishing touches on an unholy triumvirate of cinematic forgettables. And on his first three tries!

In Corky Romano, Kattan plays the title character--a naive, clumsy son of a mob boss who, having been left out of the "family business," works as a veterinarian. With a mounting case against the head Romano, the family determines that Corky, armed with a fictional rZsumZ and the surname "Pissant," is the right man to infiltrate the FBI and destroy the evidence against his father.

God willing, Corky would expeditiously complete the task and return to his life. However, unfortunately for the audience, he spends the better part of 86 minutes fumbling his way around his job, encountering the inevitable obstacles and ensuing hijinx.

To be fair, Kattan does not deserve the brunt of the blame for Corky Romano. Co-writers David Garrett and Jason Ward turn in an unfocused script chock full of forced humor and failed caricatures, while director Rob Pritts manages to ruin any possible comedic effect with his poor timing. Despite Kattan's considerable efforts, including his Steve Urkelesque destruction of a veterinarian's office and his 15-second, face-contorting attempt at flatulence, Corky Romano seems doomed for perpetual awkward theater silence.

Contributing to the demise are Peter Berg, Peter Falk and Chris Penn. Berg plays Corky's functionally illiterate brother Paulie, Falk is non-existent as Corky's father and Penn portrays the third Romano brother, Peter, a closeted gay man.