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Cookie

Steven Haynes
Dec 30, 2017
2 min read

Back in the early 80's, there was a punk movement in film, and it was female director's leading the charge. Penelope Spheeris, with films like Decline Of The Western Civilization, Suburbia, and Dudes, was the real groundbreaker on this movement and really lead the charge. Other's, like Martha Coolidge with Valley Girl and Amy Heckerling with Fast Times At Ridgemont High, followed in her foot steps. But I think that Susan Seidelman's work came closest to the vision that Spheeris had originated. She gained a lot of attention with her indie debut Smithereens, but Hollywood came calling when her sophomore effort Desperately Seeking Susan became a big hit. Today I'm looking back at one of those bigger budget followups, 1989's Cookie.

Emily Lloyd stars in the title role as the daughter of a mobster, Peter Falk, and his mistress, Dianne Weist. Falk has just been released from prison after serving thirteen years, and Weist encourages the enstranged father and daughter to get along. To make her mom happy, Lloyd takes a job driving her old man around. It's not smooth sailing at first, but when Lloyd gets wind that another mob boss, Michael V. Gazzo, is trying to muscle her dad out of a lot of money, she decides to help her pop out and get revenge, bringing this odd couple closer together.

Seidelman brings her Desperately Seeking Susan look to this film, and it works in it's favor. The always reliable Falk and Weist are terrific, but this is Lloyd's show and she nails it in her first big comedy. Supposedly there was a lot of tension between Falk and Lloyd on the set, but it might have played to their advantage considering the dynamic between these two characters. The cast also includes Adrian Pasdar, Brenda Vacarro, Jerry Lewis, and Rikki Lake. The film was scripted by Nora Ephron, who a couple of years later would pen the similarly themed My Blue Heaven. Oddly enough, My Blue Heaven feels like it cold almost be a sequel to Cookie.