Cookie

Watchable yet entirely disposable, Cookie follows a recently-paroled mobster (Peter Falk’s Dominick Capisco) as he sets out to connect with his illegitimate daughter (Emily Lloyd’s Cookie) and recover the money he’s owed from former associates. Filmmaker Susan Seidelman does an effective job of eliciting strong performances from her eclectic cast, admittedly, but Cookie is otherwise devoid of interesting or ingratiating elements designed to capture and hold the viewer’s attention – with the less-than-captivating vibe compounded by a meandering plot and almost total absence of standout sequences. There are a few minor pleasures to be had throughout the movie’s sluggish runtime, to be sure, with Dianne Wiest turn as Cookie’s dimwitted and emotional mother certainly an ongoing highlight. (It’s difficult not to wish, ultimately, that Wiest had figured more prominently in the narrative.) It goes with it saying, ultimately, that the lack of momentum ensures that Cookie fizzles out to a fairly prominent degree, and the film is, in the end, a fairly disappointing little comedy that squanders its potential from start to finish. (Falk certainly deserves better material than this, to be sure.)

** out of ****