MY COUSIN VINNIE (1992) *** Despite a few glaring technical inaccuracies, and what ultimately amounts to a wholesale whitewashing, this film manages to illuminate no small amount of semi-elusive truth about the American legal system. The prosecutor is friendly, until he starts losing, at which point it is obvious that he's trying an innocent man but continues ever more desperately. The judge (Fred Gwynne) is a hardass who delights in slightly exposing a warm underbelly once everyone is kissing his ass properly. Alleged expert witnesses know less about their subject than their streetwise counterpart. Still and all, this ain't a film about truth. It's a film about funny with spectacularly good leads (Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei), sharp writing (Dale Launer), and a tongue in cheek look at every subculture it encounters, including Hollywood. Pesci, while great as usual, is ultimately overshadowed by Tomei with her sharp wits, bad attitude, hilarious pronounciation, tight clothes, and lust for carburators.
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