Product Details

• Actors: Joe Pesci, Ralph Macchio, Marisa Tomei, Mitchell Whitfield, Fred Gwynne
• Directors: Jonathan Lynn
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: March 12, 1996
• Run Time: 119 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (142 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302516986
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,537 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

When two Italian-American boys from New York are falsely accused of murder in a small Alabama town, they call for a lawyer--but the only lawyer they know is their cousin Vinny (Joe Pesci), who made six attempts before he passed his bar exam. My Cousin Vinny is a classic fish-out-of-water comedy; the flimsy plot about clearing the two boys and solving the murder is just a hook to support a lot of culture-clash humor. Thanks to the strong cast of character actors like Fred Gwynne, Austin Pendleton, and Lane Smith, it's pretty funny--even old-hat jokes about Brooklyn versus Southern accents come to life. Pesci has played a few too many schticky characters, but this time it works. There's just enough humanity in his caricature to make Vinny likable and entertaining. When the movie was released, there was controversy about whether Marisa Tomei, playing Vinny's big-haired and black-leather-wearing fiancée, deserved to win the best supporting actress Oscar (she beat out Judy Davis, Joan Plowright, Miranda Richardson, and Vanessa Redgrave); but seeing her performance on its own, it's a comic marvel and worthy of honor. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars South Brooklyn meets The South, June 23, 2004

By	Rocco Dormarunno (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: My Cousin Vinny (DVD)

Subtly employing the city mouse/country mouse theme, MY COUSIN VINNY is a light-hearted courtroom comedy. While it occasionally stoops to some stereotyping, the movie doesn't do so mean-spiritedly. In any event, both sides get equal skewering.

Vinny Gambini, brilliantly portrayed by Joe Pesci, is a Brooklyn boy who has finally passed the Bar (after repeated failures) and now finds himself defending his nephew and his nephew's friend against murder charges in the Bible Belt. Along with his too beautiful fiancee, played by Academy Award Winner Marissa Tomei, Pesci investigates the southern style of life, as he fathoms southern courtroom procedures and tries to get some sleep. The resulting clash of cultures is sometimes predictable, but honestly, is very inventive for the most part.

The comedy of the court room scenes is heightened by the late Fred Gwynne who plays the presiding judge. His by-the-book habits and short-fused temper are a perfect foil to Vinny's laconic style. It is their interaction that feeds most of the cultural clashing. But there is also a clash of the sexes that underlies the film, as Vinny stubbornly refuses the help of his fiancee. This confrontation is also highlighted in the courtroom when the DA refuses to believe that she could possibly be considered an expert in automechanics, even though her brothers, her father, her uncles, and just about everyone else in her family are expert mechanics. (The DA becomes convinced in a wonderful cross-interview scene.)

MY COUSIN VINNY was both critically well-received and a huge box-office success. There's a reason for that: it is a well-written, well-directed and perfectly acted comedy that stands up well even after repeated viewings. See it for yourself and you'll understand why, too.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magistrate's Gavel Hits Hard On Lawyer's Forehead!, September 12, 2005

By	Maximiliano F Yofre "Maxi" (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

First of all: "My Cousin Vinny" (1992), is one of the funniest film I've ever seen! After the first ten minutes you can't stop laughing. You'll be able only to graduate from roaring outbursts to moderate laugh.

Jonathan Lynn has many skills in the cinematographic world: he is actor, director and playwright. As director this is, arguably, his best work. When making this film, it seems he was touched by a magic wand for comedic tempos. It is a pity he hasn't reached the same level with his other films, still there are some quite good as "Nuns on the Run" (1990) and "The Distinguished Gentleman" (1992).

This is the story of two New York youngsters wrongly accused of murder in Alabama. They are broken and endangered but Billy resorts to his Cousin Vinny, who's supposedly an experienced attorney.
Well... he isn't experienced, but he is faithful to family obligation and show up with his fiancée to help his relative.
The Court is commanded by Judge Chamberlain Haller inflexible and punctilious.
The rest of the movie shows the confrontation between Judge & Attorney, giving place to a series of hilarious scenes.

Joe Pesci, Marisa Tomei and Fred Gwynne flesh the three main characters producing outstanding alchemy for audience's delight.
Pesci is a purebred comedian and his characterization of a New Yorker confused by Southern etiquette is just a riot.
Beautiful Marisa Tomei earned an Oscar with her joyful play-acting.
Last but not least Fred Gwynne is a Judge full of irony and subtleties.

This movie is an excellent pastime, I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Cousin Vinny (1992), July 15, 2004

By	Chad DeFeo "(ChandlerBingFan)" (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews

In 1992, My Cousin Vinny was the one movie that made everybody laugh until their sides split. I've been watching the film ever since it was released and all I did was laugh my rear-end off. Twelve years have gone by since the film was released and I'm still laughing today. Any actor or actress can get a rise out of you if they knew the right way to do it, but nobody can get a rise of you the way Joe Pesci does in this film; nobody can do it they way Marisa Tomei does in this film.

When two college buddies by the names of Bill (played by Ralph Macchio) and Stan (Mitchell Whitford) are driving down the roads of Beecham County, Alabama, they are suddenly arrested for the murder of a grocery store clerk, but what the police of Alabama don't know is that Bill and Stan are completely innocent. Unable to afford a public attorney, Bill turns to his cousin, Vincent Gambini (played by Joe Pesci), an ex-auto-mechanic turned lawyer from Brooklyn, New York, who just past his bar exam after failing it the first five times and knows absolutely nothing about law. By his side is his beautiful fiancee, Lisa Vito (played by Marisa Tomei, in her Oscar-winning role), who is an out-of-work hairdresser that knows every damn thing there is to know about cars. The court is led by Judge Chamberlain Haller (played by the late Fred Gwyne), who has absolutely no patience for any kind of misbehavior in his courtroom. Seems as though Vinny has now finally realized his no longer in New York and is now in a state where no one gets away with any kind of behavior or crime and has finally met his match. Can Vinny pull his cousin out of this mess without screwing up the case? Watch My Cousin Vinny as he desperately tries to save his little cousin while he gives you non-stop laughter along the way.