Find Me Guilty (2006)
Average Rating: 6/10
Reviews Counted: 104
Fresh: 63 | Rotten: 41
Find Me Guilty's excessive length and heavy-handed narrative keep it from reaching its full potential, but Vin Diesel's performance is well worth watching.
Average Rating: 6.2/10
Critic Reviews: 35
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 15
Find Me Guilty's excessive length and heavy-handed narrative keep it from reaching its full potential, but Vin Diesel's performance is well worth watching.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 58,030
My Rating
Movie Info
A wise guy turns his own trial upside down by serving as his own lawyer in this comedy drama based on a true story. In 1987, an extensive investigation into the activities of the Lucchese crime family led to charges being filed against most of the key members of the gang, leading to the prosecution of 20 different men, each represented by their own council. That is, except for Giacomo DiNorscio, aka Jackie Dee (Vin Diesel), a longtime Lucchese family "mechanic" implicated in everything from
Cast
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Vin Diesel
Giacomo "Jackie Dee" Di... -
Peter Dinklage
Ben Klandis -
Linus Roache
Sean Casey -
Ron Silver
Judge Finestein -
Alex Rocco
Nick Calabrese -
Annabella Sciorra
Bella DiNorscio -
Raul Esparza
Tony Compagna -
Richard Portnow
Max Novardes -
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Domenick Lombardozzi
Jerry McQueen -
James Biberi
Frank Brentano -
Paul Borghese
Gino Marscarpone -
Ben Lipitz
Henry Kelsey -
David Brown
U.S. Marshal
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All Critics (106) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (64) | Rotten (44) | DVD (15)
It's hard to do anything in court that hasn't been done before. It's a static situation, and points are scored in tiny increments. No big witness-stand breakdowns, no tearful confessions. Thus, boredom creeps in.
Top Critic[Lumet's] crowning masterpiece.
This may be the most Brechtian thing Lumet has ever done -- a movie that repeatedly challenges us to think and then to reconsider.
As Vin Diesel plays him in a likable, image-adjusting turn -- prosthetically fat, thick of Jersey accent -- Jackie (who died in 2004) was about as sweet as a career criminal can be.
A film guilty off moral stupidity and misguided hero worship.
This movie by its nature is not thrilling, but it is very genuinely interesting, and that is rare.
If watching a jury disregard mountains of damning evidence in favor of a charismatic gangster who calls himself a "gagster" seems a morally challenging proposition, well that's all part of the bargain in Lumet's topical drama.
Dumb Vin Diesel gangster movie isn't for kids.
... a most unsatisfactory release for a movie that deserved much better.
What on the surface seems like a regular court drama with a little humor thrown in for good measure actually works as a wicked satire on the American judicial system.
Could not be more relevant at a repressive time in US history when the erosion and abuse of civil rights of those presumed guilty is nearly as big an issue as the plight of the innocent.
Could not be more relevant at a repressive time in US history when the erosion and abuse of civil rights of those presumed guilty is nearly as big an issue as the plight of the innocent.
Manages to crackle along in lively fits and starts of nasty profanity and very bad but all too credible behavior.
Vin Diesel gives a perfect performance.
Lumet orchestrates the machinations with the confidence of a master, but even he cannot quite manage to sustain the interest for the protracted arguments to run their course.
...more reminiscent of a glorified Perry Mason episode than a return to form for the filmmaker.
We could have done just as well to watch the proceedings on Court TV -- free, as it were, to flip channels or get up for a snack and skip the parts that disinterest us, rather than be held hostage by 125 minutes of drive-by clichés.
as everyone knows, putting a self-serious egomaniacal movie star in a bad hairpiece is comedy gold.
Find Me Guilty, like the justice system it portrays, ultimately works a great deal better than you might expect.
The best way to enjoy Find Me Guilty is to view it as an indictment of the jury system.
In Find Me Guilty, the teller counts at least as much as the tale. And, in director Sidney Lumet, Find Me Guilty, has a master storyteller spinning the yarn.
Audience Reviews for Find Me Guilty
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Latest News on Find Me Guilty
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August 8, 2006:
Vin Diesel to Star in "Babylon A.D."Aside from that fact-based courtroom flick from a few months back ("Find Me Guilty"), we...
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Foreign Titles
- Find Me (DE)
- Find Me (UK)
While the film is about the major organized crime trial of the 1980s, the focus specifically concerns the events as seen through the perspective of Giacomo "Jackie Dee" DiNorscio, one of the defendants who decided to be his own lawyer...and turn the entire proceeding upside down.
Like Dog Day Afternoon, this starts off really funny, but then becomes really serious, although this one didn't come off as bleak and stark with the mood change as that one did. ALso, the film is predominately pro-mafia, which, isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it wouldn't have hurt to have made it a little more even handed, especially when the prosecutor comes off as rather cartoony.
Where the film is at its best though, is with the acting. I personally knew that Vin Diesel really could act when given the right material and director (ie Saving Private Ryan), but this is his show all the way through. If all you think he's capable of is Xander Cage or Dominic Toretto, you need to see this. He really can pull off the emotional and dramatic heavy lifting, and the lighter material with the wiseguy hamming it up really sings too. Also, Ron Silver is a joy as Judge Finestein, and Peter Dinklage is great as the defense attorney who tries his best to keep Jackie wrangled.
I may be somewhat inflating my grade, but I can't help it. This is really entertaining, and, since I wasn't too famailiar with the actual events (surprisingly) it's quite informative, too. Maybe not the best from Lumet, but definitely worth a solid recommendation.