Review of My Cousin Vinny (1992) by Leroy C — 30 Dec 2012

Directed by Jonathan Lynn (creator of Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister), who at the time was hot off the surprise success of Nuns on the Run (1990), he was offered this legal comedy set in rural America.

Lynn has a law degree, and went to the step of making sure every detail about this film was 100% accurate. Most court room films can be dull, but not this one, this one is light and bouncy with brilliant dialogue and performances.

In Alabama, students Billy Gambini (Ralph Macchio) and Stan Rothenstein (Mitchell Whitfield) buy food at a convenience store, moments after they leave, the clerk is shot and killed. Billy and Stan end up being arrested and charged with murder.

Billy calls his mother, who gets their cousin Vincent LaGuardia "Vinny" Gambini (Joe Pesci) to come down and represent them. Vinny is a personal injury lawyer, with no experience of cases like this.

He travels down with his fiance Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei), and their brash Brooklyn attitudes riles up the locals, not least preceding judge Chamberlain Haller (Fred Gwynne). It's a very funny film with some funny moments, Pesci is his usual self, but he is perfect, and it's a fish-out-of-water story at heart, as Vinny struggles to get used to how things are done in the country, but the case scenes are quite gripping, but also entertaining.