My Cousin Vinny (DVD)

Just looking at Marisa Tomei and Joe Pesci in 'My Cousin Vinny' (1992) makes me laugh. And when they speak, I laugh harder. This film is definitely one of the funniest produced in the past fifteen years.

Stan and Billy, on a road trip in Alabama, are stopped by the police after buying groceries at a roadside shop. The paranoid recent university graduates speculate that people are executed for minor infractions in that area. Alabama ...
...of the blokes (Ralph Macchio) has forgotten to pay for a can of tuna fish and thinks that they are being arrested for that.

When they are brought to jail, it turns out that they have been arrested for a much more serious crime--murder!


To save their lives, they need to find a good lawyer, so they call home. Billy's mother presents the boys with 'great news': cousin Vinny is a lawyer, so he'll head down to Alabama ... more

Just looking at Marisa Tomei and Joe Pesci in 'My Cousin Vinny' (1992) makes me laugh. And when they speak, I laugh harder. This film is definitely one of the funniest produced in the past fifteen years.

Stan and Billy, on a road trip in Alabama, are stopped by the police after buying groceries at a roadside shop. The paranoid recent university graduates speculate that people are executed for minor infractions in that area. Alabama is notorious for its use of capital punishment. One of the blokes (Ralph Macchio) has forgotten to pay for a can of tuna fish and thinks that they are being arrested for that.

When they are brought to jail, it turns out that they have been arrested for a much more serious crime--murder!

To save their lives, they need to find a good lawyer, so they call home. Billy's mother presents the boys with 'great news': cousin Vinny is a lawyer, so he'll head down to Alabama to represent them. Unfortunately for Billy and Stan, hilarious New Yorker Vinny Gambini (Joe Pesci) has been a lawyer for only six weeks and has never testified in an actual court. He also attended a 'no-name' law school and has just passed his bar exam after six years of failures.

It is obvious to the viewer that the boys are innocent, and hilarity ensues when Vinny arrives on the scene with his girlfriend Mona Lisa (Tomei.) The judge can't understand what Vinny is saying due to his thick accent. One of the funniest and most famous parts of this film is when Vinny is telling the judge about 'the two YEWTS.' It takes the judge quite a while to figure out that Vinny means to say 'YOUTHS.'

~~CULTURE SHOCK!~~

Vinny and Angela show up in rural Alabama clad in leather. Vinny says to Lisa (in a fabulous Brooklyn accent), 'You stick out like a sore thumb.' Vinny points out that he is wearing cowboy boots, to which Lisa responds, 'Oh, yeah, you blend!' Tomei has one brilliant line after another in this film, including the famous 'My biological clock is ticking' scene. She definitely deserved the Oscar that she received for this role.

The judge is well-cast, as well (Fred Gwynne) and does a great job as a stern southerner. One negative about this movie is that there is an extraneous sub-plot involving a pool debt at a bar. And the public defender with the stutter joke gets old fast. But overall, this is a great comedy with a wonderful cast.

~~'There must be more to life than stereotypes...' -Blur~~

A major theme in the film is that the Northerners think the Southerners are stupid and barbaric and the Southerners think the Northerners are disrespectful. The judge and Vinny have numerous (humourous) confrontations over Vinny's courtroom behaviour. There is another hilarious scene in which Vinny tries 'grits,' a Southern food with a pudding-like consistency usually served for breakfast. 'What is a grit, anyways,' he asks.

Also, the viewer initially thinks that Lisa, an unemployed hairdresser, is an air-head, but she is savvy and has street-smarts that you can't learn at university. Tomei won an Oscar for 'Best SUPPORTING Actress,' but she is riveting and steals the scene over and over in this role.

 

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