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Critics Consensus: The deft comic interplay between Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei helps to elevate My Cousin Vinny's predictable script, and the result is a sharp, hilarious courtroom comedy.
Critic Consensus: The deft comic interplay between Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei helps to elevate My Cousin Vinny's predictable script, and the result is a sharp, hilarious courtroom comedy.
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All Critics (54) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (46) | Rotten (8) | DVD (4)
Vinny is a winning character and Pesci's performance as the beleaguered litigant is terrific - cranked yet cuddly.
With such canny scene-stealers as Gwynne, Smith, Pendleton, McGill and Chaykin filling out the cast, it is very hard for My Cousin Vinny to go wrong, and indeed, for the purpose of pleasant Saturday night entertainment, it does not.
Marisa Tomei, as Vinny's fiancée, imbues the most obligatory reactions with either a startling ferocity or a farcical ambiguity worthy of her character's name: Mona Lisa Vito.
The movie sags as Vinny sets out to demolish the patently shaky case and dubious witnesses for the prosecution. Pesci does his best, but a lawyer's suit on him becomes a straitjacket.
As Vincent Gambini, a swaggering pint-sized New York lawyer who only recently passed the bar on his sixth try, Pesci modulates his usual psycho-nuttiness and gives it some recognizably human, even melancholy, undertones.
Nothing makes a moviegoer feel more isolated than sitting stony-faced through a comedy that makes the rest of the audience laugh and cheer.
My Cousin Vinny slumps badly as the courtroom scenes drag on; but when Tomei is on screen, even the jury wakes up.
The undercurrent of fish-out-of-water silliness goes a long way towards perpetuating the affable atmosphere...
The regional stereotypes in Dale Launer's broad script aren't so laudable, but the on-screen talent merits a retrial: Tomei talks up a storm and Pesci terrorises thinly spread gags into near-shape.
For all of its grossly stereotypical characterizations and cheap laughs, My Cousin Vinny does benefit from Pesci's characteristically energetic performance. And co-star Tomei looks very nice in a clinging blue dress with gold lame applique.
I don't want to oversell My Cousin Vinny. It's hardly brilliant. But it's easygoing and occasionally quite funny and ultimately satisfying.
[An] enjoyable fish-out-of-water comedy.
During a cross-country road trip, two New Yorkers are arrested and jailed in Alabama after being mistaken as murderers of a convenience store clerk. In their desperation, they hire the cousin of one of them to be their lawyer, only to find out that Vinny has only recently become a lawyer, and has no real experience with legal procedure. According to my research, this film is actually fairly accurate and realistic in terms of how it portrays legal procedures, trials, and that sort of thing. So, going by that, I can get behind this film for trying to do some *ahem* justice to its subject matter. The film does occasionally dip into outdated and on the nose territory with some of the fish out of water elements, but overall, this is a pretty witty, sharp, and funny comedy. Ralph Macchio is fine as Bill, but Mitchell Whitfield is only okay as his buddy Stan. As Bill's cousin Vinny, Joe Pesci is a delight. Lane Smith is fun as the prosecutor, Bruce McGill is fun as the sheriff, and Fred Gwynne (in his final film) is quite strong as the judge. The real scene stealer here though, is Marisa Tomei in her breakout Oscar winning performance as Vinny's loudmouth fiancee who is along for the ride. And then of course there's yet another turn by James Rebhorn in an antagonistic role. He's fine of course, but sometimes I wish I could see him go against type. The film is a bit dated and out of touch, and, like I said, goes for easy and obvious targets with its humor. All in all though, this is a a really funny and delightful film, so give it a watch if you haven't done so yet.
Super Reviewer
Vinny: Uh... everything that guy just said is bullshit... Thank you. "Truth, Justice and the Gambini Way." My Cousin Vinny is one of the funnier comedies I have ever seen. The cast is great, with Joe Pesci, Marisa Tomei and Fred Gwynn. The film has some of the funniest individual scenes I have ever seen because of Pesci. He's pretty good at playing a monster, but damn did he give a great performance as a lawyer who doesn't know all that much about law. Going in, I have to say I didn't think this was going to be as good as I had heard, but it delivered everything you'd want from a comedy. Two young college students are traveling through Alabama when they stop at a local convenient store for some food. After buying their food and getting back on the road, they get pulled over. They think it is for stealing a can of tuna, but actually they are bing accused of murder. They can't afford a good attorney, so they settle for a cousin, by the name of Vinny. He has graduated from law school, but it took him six tries to pass the BAR. Now he has been a lawyer for a whole six weeks, hasn't gone to trial, knows nothing about the procedures and is being tossed into a murder trial that concerns a family member, who if convicted wouldn't just go to prison, but probably would be put to death. How could this not be funny? I love the banter back and forth between the actors. Tomei and Pesci have great chemistry and make every scene that they are in together interesting. But the best back and forth came in the courtroom scenes between the judge(Fred Gwynn) and Vinny. Most of their conversations go something like this: Judge:I don't like your attitude. Vinny: So what else is new? Judge: I'm holding you in contempt of court. Vinny: Now there's a fucking surprise. Judge: What did you say? What did you just say? Vinny: Huh? What did I say? Then there's his back and forth with the witnesses: Vinny: How could it take you five minutes to cook your grits when it takes the entire grit-eating world 20 minutes? Tipton: Um... I'm a fast cook, I guess. Vinny: What? I'm sorry I was over there. Did you just say you were a fast cook? Are we to believe that boiling water soaks into a grit faster in your kitchen than any place on the face of the earth? Tipton: I don't know. Vinny: Perhaps the laws of physics cease to exist on your stove. Were these magic grits? Did you buy them from the same guy who sold Jack his beanstalk beans? The dialogue in My Cousin Vinny is extremely funny and most of the time very smart. It has its occasional goofy scene that is all about being stupid, but for the most part it is highly intelligent. This movie gave me a new appreciation for everyone involved. I love Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei, but this just took them to a whole new level in my book. Also, Fred Gwynn; I've never seen him in anything outside of The Munsters, that I know of. He has that same quality that makes him so fun to watch as Herman Munster, in this movie as a Judge. If you're looking for a movie to make you laugh; it doesn't get to much better than this. I mean, this movie is in Blazing Saddles country when it comes to how funny it is. That is saying something.
Remember the first time I saw it. Had never heard of it...and I was blown away
Riotous fish-out-of-water tale as New Yorkers are trapped down South and fed grits! Pesci is one tough little a--hole (doh! again! but he's good at it) as he and his babe deluxe go shake up the yokels. Though this is Pesci's film look for Marisa Tomei, she's a bearcat.
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