My Cousin Vinny: "What's a yewt???"

Well its mid October, the nights are drawing, its getting darker and colder out there, its a scary thought (well not really but I thought I would start with a silly and faintly dramatic sounding opening sentence!).  So in an effort to keep the the gloomy dark nights at bay I thought I would do a review on a comedy, so I've opted for My Cousin Vinny, starring Joe Pesci, which was released back in 1992.  So seat up, take your place in the juror box and let's have a look at this court room comedy....

So starting with the usual startings, the film begins with two college students , Billy Gambini (Ralph Macchio) and Stanley Rothenstein (Mitchell Whitfield) while heading through Beechum country in Alabama, accidentally forget to pay for a can of tuna after leaving a convenience store.  However minutes after they leave the store the store owner is murdered and the police pull over Bill and Stan and detain them as they are treated as two suspects for the murder.  At the station due to miscommunications and the two boys believing they have been arrested for shoplifting, Bill unwittingly and mistakenly admits to the crime (of shoplifting but asks "I shot the clerk?" which Sherriff Farley (Bruce McGill mistakes for a confession!) and as result he is booked on a charge of murder, and Stan as an accessorie to murder.  In need of legal assistance, Billy speaks to mother on the phone whom tells them they have an attorney in the family, Billy's cousin, Vincent LaGuardio "Vinny" Gambini (Joe Pesci).  Vinny agrees to take the case and travels up to Alabama along with fiancee Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei).  However Vinny has no real experience as a lawyer and he has only recently passed the bar exam (after six attempts) and only deals in personal injur, and therefore has no trial experience whatsoever.

And to make matters worse Vinny despite convincing the courthouse judge, Chamberlain Haller (Fred Gwynne) he has the experience to take on the case, his lack of understanding of basic court procedures and somewhat abrasive nature get's him into trouble with Haller, who at the arraignment holds Vinny in contempt of court.  As the case proceeds Vinny continues to infuriate Haller who puts in contempt of court again as he is put in jail overnight and is bailed out by Lisa.  Vinny also eventually meets up with the prosecution lawyer and DA, Jim Trotter (Lane Smith) for a hunting trip, whom he manages to get his files for the case, without realising that he is fully entitled to, due to the procedure of full disclosure, which Lisa later on reveals to him after reading the state procedural law book that Haller gave Vinny.  As the trial is set to begin, Stan decides to fire Vinny and go with the public defender (Austin Pendleton) but Vinny manages to convince Billy from not doing the same and to give him one more chance to question the first witness.

On the first day of the trial, Vinny shows up in a secondhand tuxedo (due to a mishap with it landing a muddy field) and get's in trouble with Haller again who holds him in contempt again!  As the trial begins however, the public defender proves to be next to useless as he suffers from a bad stammer and fails to make an impression on the jurors.  Vinny on the other hand finally shows his worth as he questions the first witness and discredits their testimony, which leads Stan to fire the public defender and go with Vinny.  After this Vinny starts to become more adept in the law process as he adapts his style of questioning and learns quickly on procedure as he makes impressive progress with the remaning witnesses.  However Trotter turns up with a surprise witness, a FBI analyst who provides a report that shows evidence that the tyre track marks left by the vehicle that left the scene of the crime are identical to those on Billy and Stan's car.  Vinny frustrated with this information and seemingly with no way to win the case, Vinny during lunch has a row with Lisa who storms out.  But back in the court house, Vinny finds a photo that holds the key to the trial which shows the tyre marks of the car could not be made by Billy's 1964 Buick Skylark, but by a different car.  But in order to win the trial he will need to rely on getting Lisa back in time to take the stand and give testimony which will hold the case in the balance for Billy and Stan.
 
As far as amiable comedies go My Cousin Vinny certainly has plenty going for it and it was a success on its initial release both commercially and critically.  The film also received plaudits from lawyers who said it was quite accurate in its potrayal of courtroom procedures and that in itself was something the director Jonathan Lynn was keen to get over, as he himself said how he hated films where they get the procedures of the law wrong.  The film's comedy also works well as it simply draws on a comedy of errors, or as the tagline "a comedy of trial and error" and miscommunications of which there are plenty in the film, also combined with Vinny's amusing ignorance in the face of the law and how his argumentative nature while it get's him into alot of trouble it ultimately helps him towards his goal.

Which brings me onto the performances starting with Joe Pesci who is great in his role as Vinny, as he plays him as a good natured, intelligent, well meaning yet stubborn and argumentative guy, who bluffs his way through most of the court procedure until he begins to find his feet towards the end.  Pesci has plenty of great moments in the film and plenty of good lines, and the first one that springs to mind is when he falls asleep in the court during Trotter's opening statement and then Billy wakes him up, and Vinny goes over to the jury and says "Everything that guy just said is bullshit! Thank you".  And some of Vinny's funniest moments include when he first meets with Billy and Stan, and as Billy lies asleep in their cell, Vinny get's off on the wrong foot with Stan, as Stan thinks Vinny wants something else, as they talk at cross purposes, and Vinny saying "I did not just come down here to get jerked off" and "Look its me or them, you're gonna get fucked one way or another!".  Also his scene out in Trotter's cabin (who Trotter lends to Vinny for the weekend) where Vinny fails to get to sleep for so many nights in a row, he is woken up by an owl, and he runs out side firing Trotter's magnum at open air, only to hear the owl squawk again.  The scene where Vinny shows up in court for the day of the trial is also hilarious as he walks into the court wearing a cheesy looking tuxedo, and he explains to Haller why he is wearing it and he says to the judge "So its either wear the leather jacket, which I know you hate or this.  So I wore this riduclous thing for you!".  Pesci also has some fun in the courtroom scenes also, particularly in one moment where he questions an old lady who wears thick lens glasses, and he asks her to make an ID of how many fingers he holds up from 50 feet away, and Haller interrupts his questioning, and Vinny says "Right, Mrs Reilly, and this time ONLY Mrs Reilly!".  And Pesci's exchanges with Fred Gwynne also prove to be some of the real highlights in the film, and in one scene where Haller asks Vinny "Now didn't I tell last time you were to dress appropraitely?" Vinny replies "You were serious about that??" and finds himself going to slammer for contempt on the bus with Billy and Stan!

Getting onto other performances, Marisa Tomei is also great in her role as Vinny's long suffering girlfriend, who has worked as a mechanic in her father's garage and has extensive automotive knowledge.  Whether or not Marisa's performance warrants on Oscar or not is up for debate but there is no doubt she brings a great mixture of being sassy, sexy and above all very intelligent, and when it comes to holding an argument she is Vinny's equal.  Tomei has a few standout moments in the film, which include "biological clock" scene where she complains to Vinny about how she thinks they will never get married.  And also there is the scene where she get's her best line in the whole film when Vinny says to her that he is going out hunting with Trotter and she disagrees with him and storms out the room.  And when Vinny asks her about what she thinks about the pants he is wearing (or trousers to us Brits and Scots!) she comes out and says "Imagine you are a dear, you spot a brook and put your little lips to the soft water.  BAM!!  A fucking bullet rips part of your head off, and your brains are lying on the ground in little bloody pieces!  Now I ask you, would you give a fuck what kind of pants the son of a bitch who shot you was wearing??!!!".  Tomei's main highlight of course would have to be her courtroom scene where she (unwillingly) gives testimony for Vinny and at first when Haller asks her to answer Vinny's questions she says "No, I hate him!" and Vinny asks if he can treat her as a hostile witness and Lisa relies "You think I'm hostile just now, wait till you see me tonight!".

In other performances Fred Gwynne is terrific in his role as the cranky old judge, Haller, who takes an instant disliking towards Vinny and his cavalier attitude to the law.  This was also sadly Gwynne's final performance on film before his death the following year in 1993.  Gwynne's exchanges with Pesci are clearly some of the film's funniest moments, especially in the scene with the arraignment where he pulls up Vinny for just about everything, from his appearance to his lack of knowledge on proper procedure and he says "It appears to me you want to skip the arraignment, skip trial and ask for a dismissal!" and "The next words I want to hear out of you are either guilty or not guilty.  It don't wanna hear commentary or argument.  I don't even wan't to hear you clear your throat!".  And in the moment where Vinny questions the first witness and he says "Is it possible that the two youths..." and cause of his accent Haller has to ask Vinny what he ssaid, "Did you say a yewt  What's a yewt?" and Vinny sarcastically replies "Oh I'm sorry your honor.  Two youths!".  Also later in the scene where Lisa takes the stands and he asks if Vinny and Lisa know each other and Vinny says "Yeah she is my fiancee!" and Haller smiles and says "Well that certainly explains the hostility!".   

Ralph Macchio also does fine with his role as the innocent college kid, Billy, who ends up on trial for his life, and Ralph despite being 31 or 32 at the time, with his everlasting youthful looks manages to continue playing teenagers or youngsters in their early 20s!  Macchio get's a nice scene where he tells Vinny he is thinking of going with the public defender instead and Vinny convinces him to give him one more chance.  Mitchell Whitfield also does well in his role as Stan, Billy's college buddy, who is something of a neurotic guy who has an amusing line when they are arrested and Stan calls his mother and Stan interrupts their call saying "They're all inbred here, they sleep with their sisters!" which get's some disproving looks from the police station staff and Stan looks awkwardly and says "well some of them do!".  Lane Smith also puts in a fine performance as the DA, Jim Trotter, and he provides an unusual quirkiness to his role in his delivery, such as the scene where the FBI anaylst reveals the tyre marks of the accused's car to be identical to the marks of the tyres found after the killer's made their getaway and he says "I----dentical!" as he smacks his hands in between the "I" and "identical" which displays Smith's unique qualities as an actor.

Austin Pendelton also gives a funny performance as the nervy public defender who suffers from a bad stammer and he get's a bad case of nerves in front of the jury on the first day of the trial as he tries to address them "Ladies and gentlmen of the jjjjjjjjjjjj...jury!" and later to one of the witnesses "could you make a positive iiiiiiiiiiiiiii-identification?".  And after his nervy display and after he fails to impress Stan by nervously questioning the first witness, the defender sits down and says "Boy he's a tough one!" and Stan complains to him, and the defender says "I get a little nervous.  I'm getting better!".  And lastly Bruce McGill who is (and I hate this word!) a stalwart actor also provides a fine performance as Sherrif Farley, who has an amusing scene where he questions Billy near the start of the film, where he asks "At what point did you shoot the clerk?" and Billy looks stumped and says "I shot the clerk?!".  And Farley mistakes this for a confession and he is called away from the room and he says "I'm in the middle of a damn confession here!".

As for Jonathan Lynn as the director he does a fine job, as he is no stranger to comedy, having previously been behind Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister as well as directing Nuns on the run (with Robbie Coltrane and Eric Idle).  Lynn keeps the film's tone nice and light hearted and only in one or two scenes does he highlight the danger the two young college lads are in, such as the scene where Billy and Stan see the lights dim in their cell as the electric chair is used elsewhere in the prison.  But for the most part Lynn get's the tone of the comedy just right and he keeps the film moving at a nice pace which only occassionally lags. 

So flaws???  Does My Cousin Vinny have any???  Well no film is perfect (well almost no film! ;-) and perhaps if you want to be really picky you could get argue there are some moments where the film's logic and timeframe is a bit muddled.  For starters in the last scene where Lisa reveals that she called Vinny's old friend, Judge Molloy, she put in a good word for Vinny as he gave his nickname as a lawyer as "Jimmy Callo" correcting Jimmy Gallo, who had died.  But had Vinny actually at any time in the film tell her that he changed his fake name from Gallo to Callo??  Its not really that relevant and perhaps Vinny could have told her that anytime, but it always struck me as odd that she knew the difference.  Also in the scene where Vinny and Lisa argue over a dripping tap and if Lisa turned the tap firmly enough to fully shut it off, she goes through a whole spiel of how the engineers who installed the taps made sure it was "dead on balls accurate" for turning on and off or for "torquage".  But instead of arguing about it, why didn't Vinny just get out of bed and go over twist the tap to see if it would stop dripping or not, rather than make a song and dance about it!  The film also does feel a bit padded length wise aswell and it does take its time before we finally get to the courtroom scenes and to the nitty gritty of the film, with some inconsequential moments in the film such as Vinny arguing with a town local who owes Lisa money for a game of pool, which he comes to a few times before Vinny finally pounces on him and takes the money, which is admittedly quite funny.

But all that aside My Cousin Vinny is still a very enjoyable and light hearted comedy which stilll stands up well 21 years after it was made and if you fancy a laugh its certainly worth checking out.

So that's it for now.