`My Cousin Vinn?" is ? movie t?at meanders ?long going now?ere in ?articular, and then lig?tning strik?s. I didn't get ?uch involved in it, and y?t indiv?dual moments and some of the pe?formances ?ere very funny. It'? th? kind of movie home v?deo w?s invent?d for: Not ?orth the tr?p to the theater, but ?lam it into the VCR and ?ou get you? rental's worth. T?e film st?rs J?e Pesci a? a New Yor?er w?o thinks ? black ?nit ?hirt und?r ? black leather jack?t, if set off by ? gold chain around the n?ck, is elegant courtroom attire. He might be right ?f he ?ere a defendant in th? Br?nx, b?t the movie ta?es place ?n Alabam?, and h?'s the defense attorney. His cou?in (Ra?ph Macchio) and ? friend (Mitchel? Whitfield), two inno?ent col?ege students on their wa? to school, h?ve been ch?rged with t?e murder of a convenience store o?ner. The circumstantial e?idence loo?s damning, but the w?rst th?ng they ?ave going against th?m ?s Pesci's sweeping la?k of legal experience.
Although the film is set in the Sout? and h?s an early shot of a sign that ?ays "Free Ho?se Manure," th?s i? not another ?ne of your Dixie-bashing movies. The judge (Fred Gw?nne, h?s fa?e longe? than ever) ?nd prosecutor (Lane Smith) are civili?ed m?n wh? aren't trying to r?ilroad anybod?. It's just that aft?r gunshots were hea?d, thr?e different witnesses ?ade a po?itive identification on the t?o s?spects, fleeing the store ?n a distinctive late-1960s Buick convertible.
Pesci, who i? the Macchio character's ?ousin V?nny, has fin?lly passed the bar on his s?xth attem?t. He h?s no court?oom ex?erience, and indeed n? experience ?t all except w?th ? few personal ?njury cases. H? arrives ?n town with hi? girlfriend, n?med Mona Lisa Vito and ?layed b? Marisa T?mei as ? wo?an who h?s ? certain legal potential trapped inside ? street-smart personality.
Pesci is so inexperienced ?e d?esn't even kn?w enoug? to stand wh?n the judg? enters the courtroom, and Whitfield, in desperation, hires an?ther law?er (Austin Pend?eton) ?ho thinks it a tri?mph if he can successfully complete a sentence. Th? movie saves most of its best ?aughs for the long ?oncluding courtroom sequence, in whi?h one witness after another hammers together the prosecution ca?e, and t?e innocent youths clea?ly see? headed for th? electric chair. Gwynne's dour work in th? co?rtroom scene? ?s especia?ly g?od; ?n t?e annals of Judge Reaction Shots, which are ? performance genr? a?l their own, his work ranks h?gh. But we never feel muc? for, ?r a?out, t?e t?o ?ccused prisoners. Macchio, wh? has be?n effe?tive in "The K?rate Kid" ?nd "Crossroads," is u?ed here es?entially as a foil. H? and Whitfield sit ?t the defense table and look wo?ried, and that's about t?at. Pesci and Tomei, on the other ?and, cre?te ? quirk? relationship t?at I liked. Neither on? is p?ayed as ? dummy. They're ?mart, ?n thei? own way?, b?t involved ?n a legal enter?rise th?y are c?mpletely unpr?pared for. Tomei's surprise app?arance as an expert witness is a h?gh point, and left ?e feeling I ?ould like to see t?is coup?e again. Maybe in a scr?enplay that ?as more focused.
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