Corky Romano Parent Guide

CORKY ROMANO (CHRIS KATTAN) IS THE bumbling black sheep among hard-nosed gangster relations. But his veterinary aspirations keep him well outside the family business of gambling and racketeering until the government collects a pile of incriminating evidence against his ailing, mafia boss father, Pops Romano (Peter Falk). Reluctantly, Corky’s older brothers (Peter Berg, Chris Penn) drag him in to pose as an FBI agent and recover the data before dad ends up in the slammer for life.

With a wiretap taped to his thigh, Corky spends a good deal of his time leaning over to talk to his pelvic region, an ungainly maneuver that makes him stand out in the serious and conservative world of dark-suited federal agents. Given an outlandish resume by a backroom computer hacker, this skittish federal infiltrator soon finds himself stationed on the front lines of a criminal drug war with little time to access the evidence room or pursue his alluring, cool-headed fellow agent (Vinessa Shaw). While bungling one attempt after another to steal the condemning affidavit, Corky manages to disarm some unlucky thugs and close in on the trail of the FBI’s most wanted criminal.

The portrayal of illegal drug dealing and weapon use may not be the only objection for parents, in this sexuality abundant film. While actual depictions are kept at a minimum, there are plenty of verbal insinuations that include derogatory sexual terms and the frequent repitition of a business name that carries a sexual connotation. In addition to the numerous language concerns, one character’s name is pronounced to sound like a mild profanity. Attempts to convey humor have characters engaging in bathroom banter and some flatulent antics.

Setting aside their differences, Corky and his brothers (one homosexual and the other illiterate) collaborate in an effort to keep dad out of jail. Yet any positive messages about “blood being thicker than water” are doused as the threesome becomes “thick as thieves.” With so many misdemeanors, families may want to keep a leash on this softhearted animal lover who ends up on the wrong side of the law—with an FBI badge.

About author

Kerry Bennett

Kerry Bennett is interested in media from both a journalist and parent perspective. Along with authoring articles for several family-oriented publications, she has written for Parent Previews for over 15 years. As a parent herself, she believes parents play a powerful role in teaching media literacy in their homes.