Cookie

The title role of Cookie is played by Emily Lloyd and she's showing signs of following in the footsteps of dear old dad Peter Falk who is just finishing a dozen years in prison for labor racketeering. He's got a parole coming up and hopefully Lloyd's juvenile antics won't screw up his parole.

Cookie follows the plot premise of Angels With Dirty Faces where Rocky Sullivan takes a fall for the other guys does a stretch and now wants to move back in. And just like that there are an array of people who don't want him back and a US Attorney Bob Gunton who'd like to send Falk back to the joint.

I have to say I didn't find this as funny as I should have given the cast. I would have expected more from a cast that included Michael V. Gazzo, Lionel Stander, and Jerry Lewis. I should exempt Lewis somewhat, he has a straight dramatic role and does well in it. But it was like I was waiting for Jerry's shtick.

The women do well, besides Lloyd, Falk is torn between two women. Mistress Dianne Weist who is Lloyd's mom and his mafia daughter wife Brenda Vaccaro. Brenda's the best one in the film.

Fans of the players should be happy though.

I saw this movie in its original theatrical release in 1989. The US Attorney, 'Richie Sembretto', was played by Bob Gunton, who was just fresh from his Broadway success as Juan Peron in Evita. In the movie, I noticed Gunton's hairstyle - a really bad combover (which I noticed because Gunton had a full of hair, then as now). Being a regular reader and watcher of news, I recognized the real-life basis for this character: the then-US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, who had funny hair even then. Also, "Sembretti" was a full-out publicity hound, as was his prototype Giuliani - it was unmistakable. In '89, this went unnoticed by most critics (at least those outside NYC). I was just wondering whether anybody who sees this in 2020 might pick up on what I'm talking about here ...

By the bye - I kinda liked the movie ...

It was planned as a feel good movie like 'Desperately Seeking Susan' but in fact it is unfortunately only goofy and boring. I don't know why such a accomplished writer like Nora Ephron had written such a bad screenplay and the poor actors and actresses like Ricki Lake, Dianne Wiest, Peter Falk, Brenda Vaccaro, Lionel Stander or Jerry Lewis have had no chance to show their talents. And poor Emily Lloyd. I think it costs her a lot of sympathy in Hollywood and have had prevented to become such a big star like Gwyneth Paltrow or Winona Ryder in the USA.

One viewer wrote that this is kind of movie you should try for lazy Saturday afternoon viewing. I agree. Cookie is no grand royal of fans, but rather a fun little film that works in the spirit of Desperately Seeking Susan, which is no surprise that the film is directed by the same person, Susan Sneidman. Emily Lloyd has to goofy, hip kind of attitude that Madonna did as "Susan." She, mixed with the stuffy business-minded mafia family makes for a fun time.

I was drawn to this film as a Peter Falk fan. He is Dino Capisco, a mob boss released from prison. His estranged daughter is Cookie is sent to work for him. He needs to get some money back from an associate before making a break from the mafia life. However, his associate went and sold off his shares and basically says, live with it. But not Dino. And not Cookie, neither.

Diana Wiest plays Cookie's absolutely wacky mother and Dino's girlfriend who's waiting to get married to Dino when he does make his break from the mob. Jerry Lewis has a small part as a rival associate. And to my surprise, the movie also stars a very young Adrian Pasdar, which current viewers of Judging Amy will recognize as the D.A. and Amy Gray's love interest. He's a hubba hubba.

For you eighties fans out there, this movie is probably right up your alley. It's good times!

The usual suspects support Peter Falk and Emily Lloyd in Susan Seidelman's mob comedy. He's coming out of prison after thirteen years and wants his money from Michael Gazzo. She's his illegitimate daughter by Dianne Wiest, a street kid and "famous screwup" who winds up driving for him. Gazzo has no intention of paying him, of course. In fact, Falk is so annoying that Gazzo wants him dead, and with guys like these, the wish is usually father to the deed.

After all ll the Mafia movies of the 1970s came the inevitable reaction in the late 1980s of mob comedies, and this is one of the best of them. Sociologically, these films marked the middle of the Mafia's decline. It seemed every mook flipped for witness protection and a book deal. Newer, more violent gangs were taking over the drug trade, Off Track Betting gutted the bookies, and Waste Management took over garbage collection. Organized Crime was still feared, and the legend persists, but the grandsons of capos now largely run legitimate businesses; they've assimilated.

Jerry Lewis has a sizable role, and Lionel Stander is on view as an aging capo di tutto capi, as are Brenda Vacarro, Adrian Pasdar, and lots of shots of grungy outer boroughs and Atlantic City.