Why My Cousin Vinny May Be the Most Accurate Courtroom Movie Ever Made
Why My Cousin Vinny May Be the Most Accurate Courtroom Movie Ever Made
My Cousin Vinny is hilarious. It is a great film about two young men, Bill and Stanley, traveling across the country and are charged with the murder of Jimmy Willis at the “Sac-O-Suds convenience store. Both men are clearly innocent but the Sheriff and the prosecutor believe they have a solid case. Bill decides that he is going to call his cousin Vinny, who recently finished law school and passed the bar in New York. Vinny, however, has never tried a case and is very inexperienced. Vinny does not understand basic courtroom etiquette, such as wearing a suit to court or saying “Witness is excused” instead of “I’m done with this guy.”
What is accurate about My Cousin Vinny is that Vinny did what every lawyer should do: Vinny reviewed the statements made by the eyewitnesses, visits the crime scene and interviewed the witnesses, discussed what they saw and what they were doing at the time, and asked about anything that affected their ability to see the crime. He also stood in their shoes to see their vantage point of the crime.
At trial, Cousin Vinny gave us an excellent lesson on cross examination. He asked questions based on the witnesses’ testimony and the interviews he conducted. One witness said he started cooking grits when he saw Bill and Stanley enter the store and finished cooking grits when they fled the scene. The witness believed it was 5 minutes, but Vinny asked him why it took him only 5 minutes to cook grits when it takes everyone else 20 minutes to cook grits. When the witness could not explain why it only took him 5 minutes to cook grits, Vinny asked if his grits were magic grits that he bought from the guy that sold magic beans to Jack, from Jack and the Beanstalk.
Vinny asked another witness how long she has been wearing glasses. He then did an in-court demonstration having the witness identify how many fingers he held up from 50 feet away, which the witness gets wrong. Lastly, he asked a third witness how he identified the defendants while looking through a dirty window, blocked by bushes and tree leaves.
One reason I enjoy this movie is that cross-examination rarely looks like television dramas. Many courtroom movies depend on the cliché of a lawyer crushing the key witness on the stand and changing the outcome of the trial; this almost never happens. Most of the time cross examination consists of small, seemingly insignificant questions that slowly undermine a witness's testimony. My Cousin Vinny captures that process perfectly. What makes My Cousin Vinny stand apart from other courtroom films is that it respects the details. The investigation, witness examination, and trial strategy are all grounded in reality, even while the movie remains a comedy.
Lastly, the State called a last-minute expert witness to bolster their failing case. Vinny is given the lunch hour to prepare a cross examination. Fortunately, Vinny’s fiancé is an expert in general mechanics and is able to challenge the opinion of the expert.
Vinny’s trial is based on very realistic and common courtroom activity. It is not uncommon for the State to spring a last-minute expert witness on you and have the judge give you almost no time to prepare for this testimony. Second, it is not unusual for someone to get a serious crime as their first trial; it should not happen but a defendant is able to get his own counsel and can hire whoever he wants – even if they are inexperienced.
Vinny’s lack of knowledge as to what is appropriate courtroom behavior is a brilliant comedy used in the script. It is also realistic. Each courtroom is different and each judge has their own peculiarities that every lawyer appearing before them needs to learn. The script in My Cousin Vinny exaggerates this, but what is considered appropriate behavior or procedure can vary from courtroom to courtroom. For example, I have seen judges that want you to remain seated throughout the trial, even during asking questions of witnesses or raising objections. Most judges require you to stand whenever you speak. Being a trial attorney requires you to adjust your behavior based on the court you are in.
TF’s Notes: There is one crucial flaw in the movie that should never happen in real life. At first, Vinny represents both Bill and Stanley. When Vinny gets in trouble, for wearing in- appropriate clothing to court, Stanley wants the Public Defender to represent him. During the cross examination of the first witness, we learn that the Public Defender gets nervous and starts to stutter during his examination; Stanley then asks to have Vinny represent him for the remainder of the trial. The problem is that Vinny should never have been allowed to represent both defendants. Even with both defendant’s permission, the court should never allow this. It could later be argued that Vinny was biased in his representation of Bill and protected Bill to the detriment of Stanley. This would never have happened in any courtroom.
If you are interested in legal thrillers, courtroom dramas, and films that accurately portray trial strategy, My Cousin Vinny remains essential viewing. Few movies manage to be this entertaining while teaching so many real-world lessons about investigation, witness examination, and trial advocacy.
At the time of writing this, it was playing on Hulu.