My Cousin Vinny (1992)
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84% of critics liked it
(38 reviews) -
47% want to see it
(38,261 ratings)
When sweet Northern college kid Bill (Ralph Macchio) and his buddy Stan (Mitchell Whitfield) are picked up and thrown into the slammer in a hick Southern town, at first it looks like no big deal. Then they are informed that they are accused of murder. Penniless and without a single friend in the… More When sweet Northern college kid Bill (Ralph Macchio) and his buddy Stan (Mitchell Whitfield) are picked up and thrown into the slammer in a hick Southern town, at first it looks like no big deal. Then they are informed that they are accused of murder. Penniless and without a single friend in the area, Bill decides to call his goofy cousin Vinny (Joe Pesci), who has somehow recently become a lawyer. Full of family feeling and bravado, Vinny, who has never tried a criminal case in his short life as a lawyer, rides south to defend his trusting relative. He's an expert motormouth and street-level logician from the wilder reaches of metropolitan New York, complete with a thick accent and the attitude to go with it. Otherwise, he's much less well qualified than your average public defender. When he arrives on the scene with his equally brassy girlfriend Lisa (Marisa Tomei), Bill is fairly sure he's going to be sentenced to death. His buddy Stan is even less confident of his legal representative, if that's possible, and the first thing Vinny has to do is to regain the consent of his clients to represent them. The local judge doesn't seem any too sympathetic to Vinny's verbal shenanigans either, and even the most optimistic supporter of the boys would begin to have doubts at this point -- and Vinny's no exception. With the insistent moral encouragement of his girlfriend, Vinny somehow accomplishes the impossible and wins grudging (if very irritated) respect from all concerned, for once studying as if his life depended on it. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Directed By
- Jonathan Lynn
- Written By
- Dale Launer
- Genres
- Comedy
- Studio
- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Variety Staff, Variety
Tomei, sashaying through the proceedings as kind of a sexy hood ornament, creates a buoyant chemistry with her combative b.f.
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Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
While it's easy to imagine an infinite number of bad courtroom comedies based on this scenario, this movie turns out to be wonderful -- broad and low character comedy that's solidly imagined and beautifully played.
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Wally Hammond, Time Out
It's a small, surprisingly gentle affair, prone to fits and starts, but fun.
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Vincent Canby, New York Times
Easily the most inventive and enjoyable American film farce in a long time, even during those extended patches when it seems to be marking time or when it continues with a running gag that can't stay the distance.
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Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
You might not remember much about My Cousin Vinny an hour later, but the cast makes the jokes (even the bad ones) go down easy.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Joe Pesci
as Vincent La Guardia Gambini
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Ralph Macchio
as Bill Gambini
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Marisa Tomei
as Mona Lisa Vito
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Mitchell Whitfield
as Stan Rothenstein
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Fred Gwynne
as Judge Chamberlain Haller
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Lane Smith
as Jim Trotter III
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Austin Pendleton
as John Gibbons
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Suzi Bass
as Woman
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Michael Burgess
as Prison Van Driver
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Maury Chaykin
as Sam Tipton
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Bill Coates
as Bailiff
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J. Don Ferguson
as 1st Guard
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Michael Genevie
as 2nd Guard
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Ken Jones
as Jimmy Willis
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Ron Leggett
as 2nd Deputy
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Jeff Lewis
as 1st Deputy
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Bruce McGill
as Sheriff Farley
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Thomas Merdis
as Man in Town Square
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Pauline Meyers
as Constance Riley
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Muriel Moore
as 1st Juror
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Aubrey J. Osteen
as 3rd Deputy
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Bob Penny
as 2nd Juror
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James Rebhorn
as George Wilbur
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Raynor Scheine
as Ernie Crane
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Larry Shuler
as Hotel Clerk
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Lou Walker
as Grits Cook
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Chris Ellis
as J.T.
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Jill Jane Clements
as Courtroom Clerk
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Michael Simpson
as Neckbrace

