A
comedy of trial and error
Ever so
often, there's a film that you seem to just
enjoy for no big reason at all. It's not
particularly a brilliant film...it doesn't
really have anything to do with an emotional
connection...it's simply a film one really
enjoys. "My Cousin Vinny" is such a film for me.
The film, a comedy, follows the experiences of
two young men mistaken for murderers in
small-town Alabama. Their family sends their
cousin, Vinny, to defend them. Vinny, played by
Joe Pesci, is clearly unqualified and out of his
league. The players here follow many of the
stereotypes that are commonly accepted...from
Alabama to New Jersey to Italians to murderers.
Yet, it does so relatively gently and mostly
inoffensively. Pesci is allowed to exercise his
comic chops here and does so nicely. He picked
up an American Comedy Award for this
performance.
Marisa Tomei, who I simply love, won an Academy
Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role
as Pesci's girlfriend. Admittedly, she does a
wonderful job here but to this day I remain a
bit surprised by the Oscar.
First, she's done better work and, secondly, in
one of the few times that the Academy has
acknowledged the vitality of comedy I'm fairly
surprised they picked this film. Ralph Macchio,
mostly known for "Karate Kid", does an adequate
job here, but really adds nothing to the
character. Other fun performances include Fred
Gwynn as the judge and Mitchell Whitfield as
Stan Rothenstein. Perhaps it is the gentleness
of this film that I appreciate most.
While it certainly does feed into some
stereotypes, it seems to do so with a certain
amount of affection. This affection made the
viewing experience pleasurable, and the
performances of Pesci and Tomei continue to make
this film one I watch on a regular basis.
©
Written by Richard Propes
TC Candler's Comment
n/a
Jacob
Hall's Comment
n/a
