Notorious crime boss Pops Romano will spend his final years in prison unless someone can infiltrate the FBI and destroy incriminating evidence. But who? It seems the family’s best hope is its clumsy youngest son, a cloyingly perky assistant veterinarian with a passion for loud ties and saccharin ’80s tunes. His name is Corky Romano.
On the outs with his hostile brothers (one’s illiterate, the other is a closet homosexual) and oblivious to the nature of the family business, Corky agrees to help dear old Dad by joining the FBI. His trumped-up résumé says he’s a multilingual sharpshooter with a black belt in something or other. Things get rough. He faces antagonism on every front. Yet even after being dragged into the cynical, violent world of mobsters, thugs and crooked federal agents, Corky retains his sunny idealism and childlike charm, which has a noticeable impact on those around him.
Regrettably, this comedy strings together nonstop profanity, as well as off-color sexual comments and sight gags. Corky’s undercover name is Pissant (he insists it’s French). Drug humor involves Corky accidentally getting coked up before addressing a group of school kids. And his kin beat the daylights out of a band of skinheads.
Like an enthusiastic tour guide who has ingested too many triple lattes, Kattan injects the title character with manic energy. If only the captivating chaos didn’t degenerate so quickly into profane exchanges, sexual innuendo and nasty slapstick. Also, Pops and his gay son learn to embrace his sexual identity, implying that viewers should, too. Nothing funny about that.
