My Cousin Vinny [Blu-ray]

Director: Jonathan Lynn Jonathan Lynn

Overview

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.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/04/2009
UPC:	0024543602781
Original Release:	1992
Rating:	R
Source:	20Th Century Fox
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:59:00
Sales rank:	1,000

Special Features

Audio commentary by director Jonathan Lynn; Original theatrical trailers; TV spots

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Joe Pesci	Vinny Gambini
Ralph Macchio	Bill Gambini
Marisa Tomei	Mona Lisa Vito
Mitchell Whitfield	Stan Rothenstein
Fred Gwynne	Judge Chamberlain Haller
Lane Smith	Jim Trotter III
Austin Pendleton	John Gibbons
Bruce McGill	Sheriff Farley
Maury Chaykin	Sam Tipton
Pauline Meyers	Constance Riley
Raynor Scheine	Ernie Crane
James Rebhorn	George Wilbur
Chris Ellis	J.T.
Michael Simpson	Neckbrace
Lou Walker	Grits Cook
Kenny Jones	Jimmy Willis,Jimmy Willis
Thomas Merdis	Man in Town Square
J. Don Ferguson	1st Guard
Michael Genevie	2nd Guard
Jeff Lewis	1st Deputy
Ron Leggett	2nd Deputy
Aubrey J. Osteen	3rd Deputy
Larry Shuler	Hotel Clerk
Suzi Bass	Woman
Michael Burgess	Prison Van Driver
Bill Coates	Bailiff
Jill Lane Clements	Courtroom Clerk,Courtroom Clerk
Muriel Moore	1st Juror
Bob Penny	2nd Juror
Paulene Myers	Actor
Randy Edelman	Composer

Technical Credits

Dale Launer

Jonathan Lynn	Director
Dale Launer	Producer,Screenwriter
Paul Schiff	Producer
David Rubin	Casting

Editorial Reviews

Anyone who greeted My Cousin Vinny with wariness, uncertain about a fish-out-of-water comedy featuring abrasive New Yorkers in the deep South, should reconsider this gem that gave the world Marisa Tomei. Tomei may not have blossomed into the star many thought she'd be, but her Oscar-winning performance opposite Joe Pesci was the most endearing introduction of new talent in years. Stealing every scene she's in, Tomei makes whining charming and toughness vulnerable, all with an exceptional sense of comic timing. Dale Launer's script offers some hilarious, if predictable, culture clashes, and the chemistry of Pesci and Tomei give the story exhilarating zip. As the exasperated judge, Fred Gwynne (in his final film appearance) is a perfect anchor and straight man, while Ralph Macchio and Mitchell Whitfield make the most of secondary roles, watching the unpracticed courtroom manner of the lawyer hired to defend them with dawning horror. The story is not high on originality, but its tight execution, especially the intelligent details of the case, make My Cousin Vinny a first-class piece of populist entertainment. Director Jonathan Lynn tried to wring another hit from the courtroom antics of novice attorneys with 1997's Trial and Error, starring Jeff Daniels and Michael Richards, but couldn't duplicate Vinny's intoxicating charm.

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