Review of My Cousin Vinny (1992) by Mike S — 05 Mar 2011

MY COUSIN VINNY tells the story of two young men who are accused of murder in a small Southern town as well as that of the man who is tasked with defending them. On the surface, this does not sound like much of a comedy, but what is contained between the opening and closing credits is nothing short of hilarious.

When Billy (Ralph Macchio) and Stan (Mitchell Whitfield) are accused of murder by the local police on the strength of three eyewitnesses, they enlist the help of Billy's cousin Vinny Gambini (Joe Pesci), an inexperienced attorney who agrees to take the case because Billy is family, despite having only practiced law for six weeks and having never actually argued in a trial.

What ensues from here is quite comedic, from various run-ins between Vinny and a local bully to Vinny being very much a fish-out-of-water in the small Southern town. Pesci delivers a wonderfully comedic performance here, bringing to the table the right amount of brains and blind luck. He's also aided along the way by his fiance, Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei, in a role that earned her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress), who provides both moral and, at some crucial moments, tactical support as well.

Ralph Macchio and Mitchell Whitfield are strong in their roles, but they are required to do very little beyond setting the gears of the story in motion at the beginning. They display well enough the fear that the men would feel in their predicament as well as the doubt that would understandably arise as Vinny appears to be in over his head at the beginning of the legal proceedings. Beyond that, however, they simply sit in the defendants' chair and watch Joe Pesci and Lane Smith battle it out in front of Fred Gwynne's Judge Chamberlain Haller, both of whome turn in outstanding performances that greatly compliment Pesci's.

While it certainly wouldn't appear on the surface to be the kind of film that would be a laugh riot, MY COUSIN VINNY is a hysterical movie. Pesci accomplishes a lot of that on his own, frequently playing off of the fact that Vinny is so far out of his comfort zone during the course of the film that he can't help but find himself in humorous situations. Where the film succeeds, however, is that it never gets too ridiculous as to mock the idea that they are mired in a trial that will determine the lives of the two young men who stand trial. This is where MY COUSIN VINNY truly succeeds as a film, as it manages to balance the hilarity of its comedic moments while also managing to be, at times, a rather heartwarming story.