Cookie

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.

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.

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.

I just Today Saw This movie on Sunday Matanee. It Was as Previously stated Funny, It had some great humor and was not as boring as The previous review I read said it was.I actually Enjoyed this movie. Please If ya have a chance Watch it and give it a chance it is NOT THAT BAD

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 ...