In the last three weeks, I must have seen this movie at least five times. The first time I saw it, it was in bits and pieces and I liked what I saw and then I slowly got hooked onto the dialogues especially

the interaction between Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei. This is the first of Marisa’s movie I am watching and she has a certain aura of cockiness around her.

Permission to digress here a little – in one of Seinfeld’s episodes, George has an infatuation with Marisa (do not blame him at all). Somehow I seemed to have missed this movie during its original run, but am glad to feast on its superb screen play and witty dialogues. This movie was released in 1992.


The Plot:

Two “utes” (youth in NY slang) – Stan and Bill - are rapped with a murder charge in Alabama and their case goes to trial – the only one who can argue the case (free of cost!) is Bill’s cousin Vinny (Joe) who is a street smart lawyer from NY. So Vinny arrives in Alabama along with his fiancé – Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa). You will be treated to non-stop wit while the courtroom drama is unfolding. Will Bill and Stan be found innocent? – watch the movie to find out.

There are four main reasons to watch this movie:

# 1. Joe Pesci

Joe Pesci as Vinny Gambini has brought in earthliness to his character – be it his dress sense, his bizarre wig, his mouthing of legal mumbo–jumbo in the courtroom or his interactions with Marisa.

# 2. Marisa Tomei

Marisa Tomei as Mona Lisa Vito was at her best and fully deserved the Oscar for best supporting actress. She was looking charming and had good onscreen chemistry with Vinny. In her testimony as a witness for the defense, she impresses everybody (including the Judge) with her in depth knowledge of automobiles - having grown up in a family of mechanics (mostly the foot path variety). With words like positran and independent rear wheel suspension sprinkled during her analysis of some skid marks, I wish she was my Engineering professor – my mechanical fundas would have been stronger. Even the subject matter expert from FBI brought in by the prosecutor was no match to the analytical skills of Lisa.

# 3. The Dialogues

There are so many funny situations with witty dialogues - I will try to reproduce one of them as a sample. Imagine Vinny and Lisa sitting on the bed and she is combing her wet hair and Vinny on hearing the dripping faucet asks her why she has not closed it. Here is where Lisa pouts her lips and tells Vinny in-the-face that she has used the correct torque on the Craftsman wrench which has been calibrated by top scientist from NASA and she ends the monologue by ripping a page from the telephone directory as proof of the certificate of validation.

# 4. The Judge

The judge played by Fred Gwyne was a typical southerner – with a towering personality, a baritone voice and a no-nonsense kind of guy. He too could not help but acknowledge the courtroom skills of Vinny.

I would highly recommend you to watch this film once, at least for Marisa Tomei’s sake. You will not regret it.

Plot Revealed In The Review:	Somewhat revealed
Best to watch with:	Family
Movie Genre:	No Comment
Best part in the movie:	No Comment