Saw My Cousin Vinny, since it was in the news a lot lately. It was pretty good. The plot is that two college-aged dudes are road tripping across the US and are accused of murdering a quickie-mart employee. It's now up to their cousin Vinny, an outrageous New Yorker who barely passed the bar exam, to get them acquitted. The film is a comedy and court-room drama.
The film's humor revolves around the fish-out-of-water experience of Vinny showing up in a podunk town with his leather jacket and shades, his girlfriend in a form-fitting spandex dress. There's a running gag where he tries to find somewhere (anywhere!) to sleep. Every hotel is right by the train tracks or by a hog farm or has wild screech owls or something. I was happy how even-handed this was. Vinny never seemed to sneer at the small town but he is also not shown to be too fussy - just out of his element, that's all. There's moments of small-town hick-ery, but also Vinny is sometimes shown to be fussy, so I feel it evens out.
Anyway, once the court case starts, the movie shifts into a courtroom drama with witnesses becoming emotional, recanting their testimony and late-breaking facts being uncovered. It's all fun stuff. It's consistently fun to see Vinny interact with the incredibly imposing judge.
The film is fun and breezy. It's satisfying and amusing. It won't stick with you or stick in your mind too much, but you'll enjoy the time spent with it. It's not mean and it's not crude, just a light little snack.
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