Cookie

The movie starts with Carmela 'Cookie' Voltecki (Emily Lloyd) mourning at the funeral of Dominick Capisco (Peter Falk) and then it flashbacks a few months earlier. Cookie is a wild rebellious teen. Her mother Lenore (Dianne Wiest) is the secret mistress of imprisoned gangster and her father Dominick Capisco. He's getting paroled and forces Cookie to get a mob job. She eventually becomes his driver. Bunny (Brenda Vaccaro) is his unhappily mob-marriage wife. He wants his money and get out of the business but his partner Carmine (Michael V. Gazzo) has squeezed him out. U.S. Attorney Richie Segretto (Bob Gunton) has set his sights on Dominick mistakenly assumes him to have returned as a mob boss.

This is directed by Susan Seidelman and written by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen. This female group has created a mob movie with a few quirks, little tension and even fewer surprises. It's led by two mannered performances from rebellious Emily Lloyd and old tough guy Peter Falk. I like both actors but the movie is rather forgettable. It's not as quirky or funny as it thinks it is. The writing really doesn't have an edge. It has a few action scenes but the intensity is not terribly high. There are better mob comedies elsewhere.

If you have ever watched any of the dozens of writer/director/producer John Hughes 1980's classic teen Rom/Com films than you will surely notice the failed attempt of this 1986 film title Cookie lackluster production quality and choice of actors in attempting to copy the more successful John Hughes Rom/Com style of film.

The entire cast of the film Cookie failed miserably especially the lead actor Emily Lloyd who was supposed to be playing the troubled teenage illegitimate daughter Carmela 'Cookie' Voltecki of the former mafioso boss Dominick Capisco (Peter Falk) who was just released from prison after serving a thirteen (13) year stint.

The combination of Emily Lloyd's being cast as the illegitimate daughter of an Italian mob boss played by Peter Falk neither of which have any Italian heritage but eh the director Susan Seidelman is no Francis Ford Coppola, or Martin Scorsese either, so why expect any casting realism in this cheap knock off of the successful John Hughes filmography.

The music score also reminded me of a John Hughes type film, and after you see the way Emily Lloyd is dressed throughout the film you will surely be reminded of the earlier 1986 film Pretty In Pink starring Molly Ringwald with her funky attire which was more than a minor faux pas and cheap attempt at copying the similar costume effect delivered by John Hughes

In summary, although this 1989 film Cookie was a disappointment for me it was an indirect great tribute to the late great writer/director/producer John Hughes by the failed attempt to copy his film style of a Rom/Com film.....sorry but director Susan Seidelman just isn't cut out for directing major films. Oh wait a minute, that's why she has been focused lately on TV productions.

I give it a 5 out of 10 IMDB rating

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.

This was about a godfather type mafioso (Peter Falk) that was just released after spending 19 years in prison. He makes up with his daughter (Emily Lloyd) and together they pull a real caper on the other head of the crime family, in addition to doing a con job on the local DA to help him snuff out the other family head. A very funny movie. It was good to see Peter Falk in a part where he was the criminal instead of the detective. Bob Gunton, who played the warden in the Shawshank Redemption is the DA. Also watch for Jerry Lewis.