My Cousin Vinny - discover humour!

Starring

Joe Pesci – Academy Award Winner – as plump likable leather jacketed lawyer Vinny who spent 6 years in law school, on his first case
Marisa Tomei – as his gorgeous equally likable miniskirted girlfriend, whose father runs a mechanic garage. Very nice role. She even won an Oscar for it. Men will love her. Look up Marisa Tomei on Wiki and Google, dear male readers.
Italian lad – as main accused in a murder case
American lad – as his friend with priceless expressions on his face
Judge – to whom Vinny lies that he has 16 years of experience, on top of which he claims to be a famous New York lawyer, whom his girlfriend later says died recently.

Channel – Star Movies. Look out for the rerun.



The Review…

We’re so used to Vivek, Vadivelu and Santhanam and programmes like Kalakkapovadhu Yaaru that we think a funny programme is something that makes us laugh aloud every few minutes.

I realised I am very well such a person when I watched “My Cousin Vinny” which was rated by Readers Digest a few years back as one of the 25 funniest movies ever. I remembered that Readers Digest article and that was the very reason I wanted to watch the movie.

And I tried hard to laugh, but I couldn’t. I just smiled. Why?

It is like how real humour is. And how it should be. Natural. The movie is built around classic funny situations. They are humourous to the core. But you won’t laugh, laugh and laugh like a noisy kookaburra.

The plot revolves around 2 boys who are put in jail and accused of killing a cashier in a supermarket. One of them pockets a can of tuna in the supermarket and at first they’re under the impression that they are arrested for that. Leading to them admitting to “the crime” before they actually know what it is, and by the time they realise it, they can’t get out of the hole and hilarious situation they dug for themselves.

And in steps one of the boys’ cousins, Vinny as their lawyer.

He got into a law school thanks to the influence of a judge known to him, and flunked his way through 6 years of law school. Finally he graduated and gained 6 long weeks of experience in the field. This is his first case.

But hiring a big, expensive lawyer is out of the question. And Vinny’s family. How can the boys say no then? Besides he has considerable experience – his family is known for a tendency to argue like crazy.

Vinny has a girlfriend, who seems to be all beauty and no brains… and she keeps behaving like a tourist, taking snaps of everything in sight, even dog poop.

The court sessions begin. The opposition lawyer brings up 3 witnesses to the incident who seem to eliminate all chances for the boys.

Vinny bumbles in the first few court sessions. That is after he irritates the judge by coming dressed like a wannabe gangster… in a black shirt, trousers and leather jacket.
Two times he is asked to wear a suit. And the day after he finally wears a decent one, he dumps a bag in sticky mud unknowingly (after falling twice on it himself) and asks his girlfriend what is in the bag. The girl says, without seeing that they’re stuck in mud: “Oh, that bag has your suit. I had it cleaned for you.” The suit rental store is closed because its employees have the flu. Vinny ends up wearing a magician’s tux hired from a costume store.

I forgot this… Vinny even goes to jail twice. For being found guilty of contempt of court. His girlfriend bails him out and takes his photo when he is walking out of the jail gate. Truly a special moment.

Despite all these situations, despite ignoring the book on state laws given by the judge (a bit of which his girl reads and helps him) and sleeping in court, Vinny proves that he is a winning lawyer. Because he visits the witnesses’ houses, talks in a friendly way and took some photos on the sly. And befriends the opposition lawyer, even going on a hunting trip with him.

In the end, Vinny upholds his family name with his clever arguments. Vinny’s girlfriend proves to be a big saviour. Her dog poop picture is very helpful. And also, you get to know very interesting information about cars (the girl’s dad runs a mechanic garage), thanks to her dialogues.

Dialogue between Vinny and girlfriend when she is forced to come to the witness stand as she knows a lot about cars… (taken from http://www.law.indiana.edu/instruction/tanford/web/movies/MyCousinVinny.htm)

Vinny: Miss Vito, you're supposed to be some kind of expert in automobiles, is that correct? Is that correct?

[No answer]

Vinny: Will you please answer the Counselor's question?

Girlfriend: No, I hate him.

Vinny: May I have permission to treat Miss Vito as a hostile witness?

Girlfriend: You think I'm hostile now, wait till you see me tonight.

Judge: Do you two know each other?

Vinny: Yeah, she's my fiancée.

Judge: Well, that would certainly explain the hostility.


I skipped a lot of parts. Some of which are vital links. I left out a lot of funny stuff… but the thought that you probably won’t watch it if I tell you everything hit me just as I was coming to the last few paras. The paras may seem patchy. But how can I, as an aspiring movie reviewer, reveal the rest? Watch the movie!