‘My Cousin Vinny’: subverting the elitism of the courtroom drama through comedy
When My Cousin Vinny was first released, its poster tagline read: “There have been many great courtroom dramas that have glorified The Great American Legal System. This is not one of them.”
The courtroom drama has almost become a caricature of itself, filled with well-worn traditions and trademarks—the rapid-fire questioning, the ambitious lawyer who spots an obscure detail that dismantles an airtight alibi, or the tense montage of legal research as they pore over comically dense stacks of paper, searching for the one overlooked clue. Despite being packed with clichés, the genre’s reputation remains untarnished, still regarded as a serious form of entertainment reserved for the likes of Aaron Sorkin and Justine Triet.
Within the filmmaking hierarchy, political and courtroom dramas lie somewhere near the top, imbuing a kind of grave reverence for anything requiring such levels of mental dexterity. But over the years, only certain genres have been allowed into the genius club, with horrors, comedies and anything made for primarily female audiences being shunned from this exclusive inner circle. In recent years, many people have debated over and argued the equal skill required to create truly great horrors and comedies, with critics and audiences only seeming to recognise the achievements of films that evoke quote ‘serious’ emotions, and laughter or fear apparently does not lie within this territory.
However, anyone who has ever attempted to make a film will tell you that comedy is one of the hardest genres to execute, with comedies becoming as rare and elusive within Hollywood as equal opportunities, perhaps as people realise that it’s easier to make people cry or think than to laugh. But this idea is deeply rooted in elitism, and in an industry that grossly thrives on this principle of exclusion and has only worsened in recent years, it is unsurprising that we are going through a comedic recession.
It is for this reason that I am so completely enamoured by the masterpiece that is My Cousin Vinny, a film that managed to go against the conventions of the courtroom drama by turning it into a comedy, making fun of the genre while also creating a timely commentary on elitism and classism, something that is reflected within the response to the film.
My Cousin Vinny follows two carefree young men who find themselves being accused of murder, admitting to the crime after assuming they were being charged for accidentally stealing a tin of tuna from a gas station. After being thrown into jail, the friends realise that they are caught in the middle of a nearly impossible case, with bizarre circumstances lining up that make them look immeasurably guilty. With no money to afford a lawyer, the pair employ the skills of their cousin Vinny, a lawyer who recently passed the bar after six attempts and has never had a murder case before.
The film has a razor-sharp script that is riotously funny and endlessly quotable, with iconic one-liners as Vinny desperately tries to win the case while fighting to be taken seriously by experienced lawyers who look down on him due to coming from a working-class background. While this isn’t an explicit thematic strand, it is implied through the snide comments and jokes made about Vinny’s clothes and accent.
Joe Pesci is brilliant in the role, capturing the naivety, determination and sometimes stupidity of someone who is comically out of their depth and presented with a seemingly impossible task. But more than anything, the film shines for its genius blend of comedy within such a historically serious genre, making light of moments that are typically played for dramatic effect, such as Vinny’s highly anticipated opening statement of “Your honour… uh… everything that guy just said is bullshit. Thank you”.
But alongside the sheer brilliance of the comedic timing, impeccable line delivery and pitch-perfect script, there is a nuanced core that both highlights the classism that Vinny deals with as a working-class lawyer and the elitist response towards the comedy genre as a whole.
Marissa Tomei was famously met with backlash after winning the Academy Award for ‘Best Supporting Actress’ in the film, something that baffles me given how wonderful she is during the penultimate witness stand scene and all her interactions with Pesci, becoming one of my favourite performances in the entire film and bringing so much colour and vivacity to the story. With her garish jacket and fast-talking New York accent, her character is a delight to watch from start to finish, but her performance was generally deemed as not being worthy due to the fact that it is a comedic role.
The idea that comedies require less skill or are easier to pull off is absurd, and something that I would argue is rooted in elitism. Hollywood has historically placed certain types of stories on a pedestal, viewing serious or dramatic films as requiring more intellectual prowess and dismissing the skills needed to make people laugh or feel frightened, something that is arguably harder to achieve.
My Cousin Vinny is a wonderful fuck you to the snooty suits in Hollywood who look down on those who make us laugh and scream, believing that there is something lesser about an art form that provokes these emotions because it isn’t rooted in academic jargon or seemingly weighty concepts. But a film like My Cousin Vinny achieves something that the likes of Christopher Nolan and Ridley Scott could never dream of, being both entertaining while having something deeper to say, but without the pretentiousness of needing to scream through every frame that something significant is happening, the despite the fact that it is just a bunch of men in suits speaking many words, but really saying nothing at all.
