"My Cousin Vinny" is a real gem, a perfect, funny, smart comedy, a very rare kind that I can watch and enjoy over and over again no matter how many times I've seen it and from what scene I watch it. This is one of my three all time favorite English language comedies along with "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and "A Fish Called Wanda". When I think of it, all three share the same concept - playing the differences between the cultures, mentalities, ways of living, talking, doing things, even cooking - Europeans versus Americans, particularly British and Americans or New Yorkers versus Southerners in My Cousin Vinny. They also have in common a flawless, witty script with all pieces falling into right place, all guns firing, all characters developed and interesting. As with Scoundrels and Wanda, performances in "My Cousin Vinny" are simply terrific. Joe Pesci as a lawyer with no legal experience from Brooklyn whose first case just happened to be defending two "youtes" in a first degree murder trial, and Marissa Tomei in the dresses that are so magnificently out of place in the muddy Wahzoo City, Alabama but so deliciously fit her like a glove, make one of the best screen couples ever but I like the supporting characters and small cameos, too. Everyone shines in this delightful comedy. I remember three witnesses for prosecution - grits loving Sam Tipton (Maury Chaykin), the guy with seven bushes (Raynor Scheine), and sweet Mrs. Riley who just may need a thicker pair of glasses. Austin Pendleton as a stuttering public attorney was hilarious. Fred Gwynne, sadly in his last performance as Judge Chamberlain Halle, made his every scene (each of which he shared with Pesci) the double delight. Ten years after the film was released, Film critic and historian Mick LaSalle wrote in his article, "Half of what made Joe Pesci funny in this comedy was the stream of reactions of Gwynne, as the Southern Judge, a Great Dane to Joe Pesci's yapping terrier." The film made me root for Vinny, wishing him victory in his first case, and he won gloriously with the help of a lovely, lovely expert in the general automobile knowledge in this lovely, lovely comedy.
Review of My Cousin Vinny
