Review of My Cousin Vinny (1992) by Melvin W — 11 Oct 2011

Vinny: Uh... everything that guy just said is bullshit... Thank you. .

"Truth, Justice and the Gambini Way.".

My Cousin Vinny is one of the funnier comedies I have ever seen. The cast is great, with Joe Pesci, Marisa Tomei and Fred Gwynn. The film has some of the funniest individual scenes I have ever seen because of Pesci. He's pretty good at playing a monster, but damn did he give a great performance as a lawyer who doesn't know all that much about law. Going in, I have to say I didn't think this was going to be as good as I had heard, but it delivered everything you'd want from a comedy.

Two young college students are traveling through Alabama when they stop at a local convenient store for some food. After buying their food and getting back on the road, they get pulled over. They think it is for stealing a can of tuna, but actually they are bing accused of murder. They can't afford a good attorney, so they settle for a cousin, by the name of Vinny. He has graduated from law school, but it took him six tries to pass the BAR. Now he has been a lawyer for a whole six weeks, hasn't gone to trial, knows nothing about the procedures and is being tossed into a murder trial that concerns a family member, who if convicted wouldn't just go to prison, but probably would be put to death. How could this not be funny?

I love the banter back and forth between the actors. Tomei and Pesci have great chemistry and make every scene that they are in together interesting. But the best back and forth came in the courtroom scenes between the judge(Fred Gwynn) and Vinny. Most of their conversations go something like this:

Judge:I don't like your attitude. .

Vinny: So what else is new? .

Judge: I'm holding you in contempt of court. .

Vinny: Now there's a fucking surprise. .

Judge: What did you say? What did you just say? .

Vinny: Huh? What did I say? .

Then there's his back and forth with the witnesses:

Vinny: How could it take you five minutes to cook your grits when it takes the entire grit-eating world 20 minutes? .

Tipton: Um... I'm a fast cook, I guess. .

Vinny:  What? I'm sorry I was over there. Did you just say you were a fast cook? Are we to believe that boiling water soaks into a grit faster in your kitchen than any place on the face of the earth? .

Tipton: I don't know. .

Vinny: Perhaps the laws of physics cease to exist on your stove. Were these magic grits? Did you buy them from the same guy who sold Jack his beanstalk beans? .

The dialogue in My Cousin Vinny is extremely funny and most of the time very smart. It has its occasional goofy scene that is all about being stupid, but for the most part it is highly intelligent. This movie gave me a new appreciation for everyone involved. I love Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei, but this just took them to a whole new level in my book. Also, Fred Gwynn; I've never seen him in anything outside of The Munsters, that I know of. He has that same quality that makes him so fun to watch as Herman Munster, in this movie as a Judge. .

If you're looking for a movie to make you laugh; it doesn't get to much better than this. I mean, this movie is in Blazing Saddles country when it comes to how funny it is. That is saying something.