Corky Romano

Comedy is like pornography.

I can't define it, but I know it when I see it, when I hear it, when I experience it, when I expose myself to it.

And what I have seen of "Corky Romano"--unfortunately, all of it--causes me to suggest it is not comedy; that is, in fact, pornographic. Deliberately. Decidedly.

"Corky Romano" continues the tradition (I shudder and gag when I use these words so recklessly) "Saturday Night Live" started years ago: Take a rising star (albeit an untalented one), take a skit, routine, or bit structured for television--network television, late-night, specifically--and rework it into a feature film length effort, with the intent of showcasing the aforementioned rising star, and, if possible, make a buck or two in the process.

There is nothing wrong with this not-so subtle agenda. It is how the Hollywood Machine was generally built and how it continues to work to this day overall. There is, however, a problem, a flaw inherent in this agenda: The aforementioned rising star does not have much in the way of talent, ability, or skill, the skit in question cannot realistically be rewritten to successfully sustain a feature film length structure, and the supposed comedy meant to drive the movie grinds to a halt.

Quickly, causing chaos and mayhem, failure and fault, in its wake.

Chris Kattan, of the aforementioned "Saturday Night Live", stars in "Corky Romano" as the kid brother of a Mafia family, who wants him to inflitrate the FBI, which has been watching the family, to destroy evidence collected against them and their criminal practices and activities. Of course, predictably, this cannot work nor succeed: He is, to be blunt, the resident moron, the idiot of this particular village: He is trusting, naive, and foolish: He really believes his father, the Don (Peter Falk, in one of his worst acting jobs in a long time), is in the landscaping business.

Of course it is not enough to merely suggest or politely imply Corky might be a little slow on the uptake: It must be shown again and again, to the point such is horribly painful to watch and experience: Corky, for those interested, is an assistant in a veterinary office.

Oh, my: The source of certain humor.

Right?

And he is physically clumsy: He manages, with great effort, to knock over almost everything in the waiting room. Doing so, of course, lets loose a rather large snake, that manages to crawl up his pants and emerge from--

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