Review of My Cousin Vinny (1992) by Edith N — 17 Jul 2010

Hereinafter Referred to as "Yoots," As Is Traditional.

Okay, let's get this out of the way. No. That rumour you heard about Marisa Tomei isn't true. When she won Best Supporting Actress at the 1992 Academy Awards, everyone was pretty stunned. It was a heavy-duty year, with two bona fide acting legends and two younger powerhouses up in the category. And then there was Marisa Tomei, age thirty-two, who'd never done anything serious in her life and assuredly wasn't starting here. So when Jack Palance (Best Supporting Actor, [i]City Slickers[/i], 1991) opened that envelope and read her name, pretty much everyone was stunned. Frankly, I can see how it happened; in such a cutthroat year, it's anyone's game, and Joan Plowright, Miranda Richardson, Judy Davis, and Vanessa Redgrave probably all had pretty staunch defenders. It was Joan Plowright's only nomination; it still is. And so forth. But no, contrary to what you may have heard, she really did win. I'm not sure they'd really want to take on Jack Palance--he's dead now, and I'm not sure I would even so--but there are always two guys from Price-Waterhouse in the wings to ensure against just such a problem. No, really. He read the right name.

Anyway. Bill Gambini (Ralph Macchio) and Stan Rothenstein (Mitchell Whitfield) are on their way to college in California. They're heading south from Brooklyn to go across the lower half of the country, reasoning that it's better to go a lot out of your way than to drive across the northern half of the United States in winter. Unfortunately, things go a bit wrong for them. They stop in a convenience store, the Sac-o-Suds (laundry and Fritos in one easy stop!), to buy food for the road. Bill inadvertently puts a can of tuna in his pocket because his arms are full and forgets to take it out to pay for it. He and Stan are discussing it when they're pulled over by the cops. They think it's a bit of an extreme reaction for shoplifting a can of tuna, but they're New Yorkers in Alabama. Only it turns out the Sac-o-Suds was robbed shortly after they left it, and they've been pegged as the criminals. Bill calls his mother, who suggests his eponymous Cousin Vinny (Joe Pesci) come down to Alabama to be his lawyer. Bill agrees, and Vinnie brings down his fiancée, Miss Mona Lisa Vito (Tomei), to be with him when he wins. His, um, first case.

The thing is, the movie mostly relies on certain stereotypes the Northerners have of the Southerners, and what's more, it relies on their not being true. The yoots really do seem to believe that shoplifting a can of tuna would get such an extreme reaction. Vinnie does pretty much rely on the judge's being a hick. Instead, he is an intelligent, somber Yale graduate, Chamberlain Haller (Fred Gwynne), who is a stickler for procedure and propriety. Friendly, bellicose prosecutor Jim Trotter III (Lane Smith) is actually pretty slick, though I'm not sure Vinny ever realizes quite how slick he is. (More on this anon.) The locals are genuinely friendly, and while they'd quite like to see the yoots fry if they're guilty, the witnesses aren't trying to set up the city yoots. They're really trying to convict the people they honestly believe to be guilty of holding up the Sac-o-Suds and killing the clerk. Oh, yeah, there's a hick or two, but the impression given is that most of the townsfolk would be kind of relieved to know that Vinny hit one of 'em. Heck, Sheriff Farley (Bruce McGill) is willing to bend procedure just a little bit because Vinny doesn't have any time and because it's just a little thing.

An attorney with as much experience as Vinny claims wouldn't have gotten snowed quite the way he does. Now, unlike Lisa, I don't hold it against him that he didn't know anything about discovery. Okay, that's because I don't know if they have a discovery law in New York or not, but I do know that not all jurisdictions have one. If they do in Alabama but don't in New York, well, that's only realistic. He wouldn't have learned it in law school because his law school wouldn't expect its graduates to practice law in Alabama. However, once he did find out about it and found out that he'd had to ask before Trotter shared, well, that's where he needed to start screaming bloody murder. And that's only one place where there is reversible error, and maybe Trotter would skate by on it. However, Vinny's argument against one of the state witnesses and his request for a continuance is completely legally legitimate, and the judge's overruling of his subsequent objections is inexcusable. Yeah, we need it to have a story, but the appellate is not so concerned about that.

It's a pretty light movie. That's part of people's problem with Tomei's Oscar, I suspect. Her third and most recent nomination, for [i]The Wrestler[/i], is for a much meatier role. She lost to Penélope Cruz, and plenty of people were upset about it! However, this movie does have some staying power. Okay, broadly speaking, the yoots don't matter. They're innocent. That's all we really need to know. And Bill has more reason to trust Vinny than Stan does. Stan, indeed, briefly hires the public defender, John Gibbons (Austin Pendleton), who's borderline incompetent. Forget Vinny; I'd probably make a better lawyer than he. There's a reason, though, that Vinny's the title character. It is with Vinny that our sympathies and our interest lie. He's doing something he's always wanted to do, and while he knows in his heart that he can do it well, his experience is kind of starting to prove him wrong.