History Film / MyCousinVinny

The film is also notable for ''not'' leaning on DeepSouth stereotypes -- the residents of the small Alabama town are shown to be folksy but definitely not stupid, and are overall decent and sensible folk. And unlike most legal films and television shows, the prosecutor and the judge are not portrayed as antagonists; the prosecutor is a reasonable professional who sincerely believes he is bringing two murderers to justice and has no animosity with Vinny nor Vinny with him, and while the judge dislikes Vinny it's not without merit and he doesn't let his opinion of Vinny influence his moderation of the trial proceedings (with one single exception). The humor is derived from its FishOutOfWater premise with the proud New Yorker Vinny having to adjust to temporarily living in a southern town, since of course New York and Alabama are two very different places with very different people and culture. It's also soon revealed that while he ''is'' a lawyer, it took him ''six tries'' to clear the bar exam and this is his first actual trial case, and there's a lot of pressure on him since his cousin's life is on the line.

->'''Vinny:''' I'm learning all this as I go along. I'm bound to fuck up a little.
->'''Lisa:''' "A little?" You've been thrown in jail twice!

Two college kids from New York, Bill Gambini (Macchio) and Stan Rothenstein (Whitfield), are driving through Alabama when they are arrested for the armed robbery of a convenience store and the shooting of its clerk -- due to a misunderstanding for why they were being questioned (Bill forgot to pay for a can of tuna while at the store and thinks he's being arrested for shoplifting), Bill accidentally "confesses" to the crime and the two are put on trial for first-degree murder and accessory. Fortunately Bill has an attorney in the family, his cousin Vinny, and Vinny soon comes down to Alabama with his argumentative fiancée Mona Lisa Vito to help the boys [[ClearTheirName clear their names]]. HilarityEnsues.

* HillbillyIncest: Stan discusses this on the phone with Bill's mother when explaining why they think they're being framed as murderers by the Alabama police. This gets a negative reaction from the guards nearby.

'''Stan:''' The Klan's here, they're inbred, they sleep with their sisters... ''[realizes the guard is glaring at them]''... some of them do.

** Judge Haller had no legitimate reason to overrule Vinny's objection to Wilbur's testimony. While he can theoretically overrule it, the verdict would almost certainly have been overturned by a higher court simply for this reason, as this shows extreme prejudice against the defendants. Maybe he assumed (correctly) that Vinny must have had some sort of prior notice because he actually got procedure right for once, but Vinny was still right about all the specifics that were left out.

** After winning the case, Vinny is trying to get out of town before the judge gets the fax from the NY bar. The judge exits his chamber with a smirk and clutching a fax. When he meets Vinny ''just'' before he can get out [[spoiler:(Vinny gives out a silent OhCrap), Haller congratulates him on his impressive "record" in New York. Turns out Mona had his judge friend fax Haller.]]

** Vinny lies about his history as an attorney (or lack thereof) to Judge Haller. Of course, Vinny, lacking any real experience, would never think he would contact the State of New York to review his history. ''Wrong.'' [[FridgeLogic Although one would think he would review his history 'before' the trial...]]

* WrestlerInAllOfUs: The subplot where Vinny's fiancée gets stiffed $200 from a local when she beat him at pool gets resolved when, after several ensuing confrontations to get the guy to fork over the cash (but only if Vinny can take it from him), Vinny finally gets the money from the guy in the ensuing standoff by nailing him with a crossbody block.

* In a notable aversion, nether Bill nor Stan testifies at their trial. While commonplace in movies and on TV, in real life it is generally seen as a bad idea for the accused to take the stand at a murder trial, and in most cases a good defense attorney will advise against it.

* GuileHero: Vinny is very good at deductive reasoning, identifying small flaws in what most people think is an open-and-shut case, and forming coherent, logical arguments to convince people of the truth. He's also clearly a talk-first-punch-last kinda guy, despite his cantankerous demeanor.

The film is also notable for ''not'' leaning on DeepSouth stereotypes -- the residents of the small Alabama town are shown to be a bit simple but are definitely not stupid, and are overall decent and sensible folk. And unlike most legal films and television shows, the prosecutor and the judge are not portrayed as antagonists; the prosecutor is a reasonable professional who sincerely believes he is bringing two murderers to justice and has no animosity with Vinny nor Vinny with him, and while the judge dislikes Vinny it's not without merit and he doesn't let his opinion of Vinny influence his moderation of the trial proceedings (with one single exception). The humor is derived from its FishOutOfWater premise with the proud New Yorker Vinny having to adjust to temporarily living in a southern town, since of course New York and Alabama are two very different places with very different people and culture. It's also soon revealed that while he ''is'' a lawyer, it took him ''six tries'' to clear the bar exam and this is his first actual trial case, and there's a lot of pressure on him since his cousin's life is on the line.

** Despite all this, it is not exactly a documentary...it still takes several liberties anyway (see HollywoodLaw above), albeit far fewer than other movies.

** Also, one of the most common inaccuracies in legal movies is kept here...the ability for lawyers to arbitrarily leave their desk and walk around in "the well"...the area that contains the stand, the judge's bench, and the jury box. In the American court system, a lawyer is not allowed to do many of the things seen in these legal movies (e.g. walking around, approaching the stand, talking face-to-face to the jury) without explicit approval from the judge. If they do not get that permission, the bailiff will tackle them the instant they step into the well. This rule is ignored in fiction, including here, for the sake of flow, drama, and filmmaking (it is far easier and more compelling to frame a shot with both the lawyer and another person in it instead of cutting to them talking to each other across the room).

** Although probably staged this way for humorous effect, real police lineups do ''not'' have people with wide discrepancies between height, weight, build, and facial features. They are made up of the suspect(s) and a couple of volunteers who look similar to the suspect in height, weight, build, skin color, hair color, and general facial features, so that when an identification is made, if it is the actual suspect, they are chosen because they are truly recognized by the witness(es).

** Vinny would not be allowed to represent both Billy 'and' Stan. In any criminal case with multiple defendants, either one could at any point turn state's evidence and testify against the other, thus creating a conflict of interest if they had the same attorney.

* ContentWarning: FXM's airing of the movie got the same treatment as ''Film/StraightOuttaCompton'' by broadcasting uncut and thus getting a similar TV-MA advisory, which is quite suprising for a 90s movie.

* FriendlyEnemy: Trotter, the prosecutor, is entirely friendly and welcoming to Vinny, despite them representing opposing sides of the case (see HeroAntagonist, below). It's very much TruthInTelevision that prosecutors and defense attorneys would have no personal animosity, and it's not unusual for them to be friends.

* OnlyBadGuysCallTheirLawyers: Deconstructed when Stan and Bill talk to the cops after being arrested. They think they've just been hauled in for accidentally swiping a can of tuna, so they're happy to talk with the police and try to explain things. Which gets them charged with murder, because Stan's confused "I shot the clerk?!" is interpreted as a straightforward admission of guilt, and is later used at the preliminary hearing as evidence to go to trial. This exact scenario is why all lawyers say talk to law enforcement without your lawyer present, even if everyone involved is working in good faith and trying to get to justice.

* PoorCommunicationKills: When Vinny's cousin and his friend are first arrested, they end up [[DiggingYourselfDeeper digging themselves deeper]] as they answer the police's questions while simply assuming they were being arrested for shoplifting. The way they phrase their answers is taken out of context as a murder confession, and is used against them at trial. (This scene is often used as an example of why suspects should never speak to the police without an attorney present).

** Vinny did have an opportunity to get the case thrown out at the preliminary hearing, and likely could have gotten the charges dropped, but due to his major inexperience, he asks absolutely no questions. He excuses it by saying that since a bunch of New Yorkers killed a fellow rural Alabamian, there was no way they would let them get away without a trial. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Whether this was actually true, showing how Vinny is far smarter than given credit for, or showing how Vinny was letting his prejudices cloud his judgement is up for debate.]]

** Vinny lies about his history as an attorney (or lack thereof) to Judge Haller. Of course, Vinny, lacking any real experience, would never think he would contact the State of New York to review his history. ''Wrong.''

* HollywoodLaw: While this film is for the most part [[ShownTheirWork very accurate]] when it comes to its depiction of the legal process (won an award for it, in fact), there are a few minor embellishments for the sake of narrative convenience.
** Vinny is licensed to practice law only in the state of New York. In order for him to be able to act as a lawyer in Alabama, a lawyer who ''is'' licensed to practice in Alabama would need to file a motion (pro hac vice, absurdly standard practice) and be a part of his legal team. [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality But if this happened, there would be no movie.]]

** The public defender tries to prove that one of the witnesses has poor eyesight by challenging him to tell him Stan and Billy's eye color from across the room. While not against the rules, it is generally a bad idea to ask open-ended questions of this sort, due to the risk of it backfiring and the witness answering correctly (as happens here).[[note]]This sort of outcome is precisely why an unspoken law amongst real-life laywers is: "don't ask questions you don't already know the answer to."[[/note]] Beforehand, Stan even cites this as a reason not to go with ''Vinny'' as an attorney. Vinny himself does do this later on in the trial, but gets away with it.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Judge Haller comes across as extremely cold and strict, but he's only trying to run his courtroom correctly, in the face of Vinny's antics, and he (correctly) suspects that Vinny's lying about his experience. After the case is over and he no longer has to worry about any of that, he congratulates Vinny on his ability and gives him a warm send-off.

* OnlyBadGuysCallTheirLawyers: Deconstructed when Stan and Bill talk to the cops after being arrested. They think they've just been hauled in for accidentally swiping a can of tuna, so they're happy to talk with the police and try to explain things. Which gets them charged with murder, because Stan's confused "I shot the clerk?!" is interpreted as a straightforward admission of guilt. There's a very good reason you don't talk to law enforcement without your lawyer present, even if everyone involved is working in good faith and trying to get to justice.

* ShownTheirWork: The film's depiction of the legal process is very accurate. The director Jonathan Lynn has a law degree and insisted the courtroom scenes be how real cases are presented. The movie is ranked #3 by the American Bar Association's ranking of 25 greatest legal movies (just behind ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird'' and ''Film/TwelveAngryMen'', respectively). Even a court reporter is present, who sits right behind the prosecutor during several scenes scribbling on a flip-up notepad and looking very excited.
* SimpleCountryLawyer: An inversion. In this film, both the prosecutor and the judge are from rural Alabama, and are educated, articulate and good at their jobs. Vinny, on the other hand, is from New York City, and is inexperienced, clueless about courtroom procedure and very rough around the edges.

* TurnTheOtherFist: On the third encounter with the Big Pool Player who owes Lisa $200, Vinny is distracted and in a hurry, and waves the guy off as he, the Alabaman, taunts the New Yorker with the $200. Waves him off, waves him away, tackle. Vinny gets back up $200 richer hardly breaking his stride.

*** Vinny tries to act clever and sneaky in order to get access to Trotter's case files, only for Trotter to freely give them to Vinny. Lisa - who never even went to law school - had to explain to Vinny that Trotter was ''required to do this.''

Two college kids from New York, Bill Gambini (Macchio) and Stan Rothenstein (Whitfield), are driving through Alabama when they are arrested for the armed robbery of a convenience store and the shooting of its clerk -- due to a misunderstanding for why they were being questioned (Bill forgot to pay for a can of tuna while at the store and thinks he's being arrested for shoplifting), Bill accidentally "confesses" to the crime and the two are put on trial for first-degree murder and accessory. Fortunately Bill has an attorney in the family, [[TitleDrop his cousin Vinny]], and Vinny soon comes down to Alabama with his argumentative fiancée Mona Lisa Vito to help the boys [[ClearTheirName clear their names]]. HilarityEnsues.

*** Vinny tries to act clever and sneaky in order to get access to Trotter's case files, only for Trotter to freely give them to Vinny. Vinny has to be told by Lisa - who never even went to law school - that Trotter was ''legally required to do this.''

** Vinny is ruled in Contempt of Court because he fails to correctly give a plea. And this was after the judge had literally spelled out exactly what he had to do.
** Thinking that the judge was only joking when he ordered him to wear a suit and tie in court gets him another night in jail.
** [[RuleOfThree And a third time]] when he cops an attitude after explaining his reasoning for wearing a gaudy replacement suit after the suit that he was supposed to wear to court gets covered in mud. Afterwards, he falls asleep in court and swears during his opening statement.
** Vinny tries to act clever and sneaky in order to get access to Trotter's case files, only for Trotter to freely give them to Vinny. Vinny has to be told by Lisa - who never even went to law school - that Trotter was ''legally required to do this.''