Review of My Cousin Vinny (1992) by Ken C — 09 Nov 2010

A comedy classic.

Joe Pesci plays someone different for once and Marissa Tomei is just as seductive as she was in The Wrestler even with her clothes on. The judge played by Herman Munster is one of the most memorable judges in the history of movies about court cases next to The Honorable Judge Stevens. I think that Marisa Tomei's Oscar is well deserved and if The Academy Awards weren't so shitty she probably would of won another for her role as a stripper in The Wrestler. It doesn't matter though. I also really admire the dialogue in this movie and what brings it all to life is all the actors who are saying them and like in Inglourious Basterds say them in a way that nobody else can.

The run on jokes and gags are all great and never get old. Theres one run on joke where Vinny can never get any sleep no matter where he goes which just adds on to all the stress that hes dealing with the entire movie. Theres a guy who wants to kick his ass, he has to read this beast of a book that the judge gave him, all while trying to help Ralph Matchio and his brother win at a court case. You can feel all the stress that just keeps piling up on top of him and by the time the movie's over you felt like you've just taken a really hard test that you've been preparing for for weeks.

I think probably one of my favorite scenes is when Marissa was out trying to find a new suit for Vinny but the only one she could find was a hotel clerks uniform at a second hand shop. I also really like the scene where Ralph Matchio is trying to convince his brother to keep Vinny as there lawyer and tells him a story about what he did to a magician at his wedding. Theres so many other great scenes to talk about but I think those two are my favorite.

I don't think I can find anything in this movie to call bullshit on, its a really solid comedy and probably one of my favorites, I'm not entirely sure if this is one of my favorites of all time though.