The Rewatchables - ‘My Cousin Vinny’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris

Episode Date: July 18, 2023

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Wesley Morris look to answer the question of "What is a yute?" by revisiting the 1992 comedy ‘My Cousin Vinny,’ starring Joe Pesci, Marisa Tomei, Ralph Macchio, and Fred Gwynne. Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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plus 24-7 U.S.-based support. Millions of business owners already trust Spectrum Business. So visit Spectrum.com slash business to learn more. restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. All right, it's courtroom month here in the rewatchables. CR is here, Chris Ryan.

Wesley Morris is here. He's already laughing. We're about to break down. One of the most ridiculous movies of all time, my cousin, baby. Two youths. Not since Perry Mason has a lawyer been so daring. Counselor.

Not since General Custer. Good name but for murder. Has an outcome been. And so clear. They needed the best. How long have you been practicing? Almost six weeks. What they got was to two youths.

Did you say youts? Yeah, two youths. My cousin Vinny. What is a Ute? Redid R. All right, so this movie came out three decades ago. It's one of the most inexplicable success stories I can remember. It shouldn't have worked.

Joe Pesci had a couple other ones of these, like the super and with honors. and idea movies that just didn't work. This one worked. It won Marissa Tome and Oscar. I don't know. Where do you want to start, C.R.? I know we could do Pesci as unlikely movie star, or we could do Fish Out of Water movies

and how reliably entertaining those are. Or we could do, for some reason, lawyers and legal people feel like this is the most honest. Yeah, accurate. Legal movie and accurate that anyone's done. The way he cross-examines people, It's very Johnny Cochran in 1904, just breaking down defendants and flipping stuff they said against them. And it's very popular in the community, Wesley.

I, before we started, was in the middle of taking a poll of my friends, my lawyer friends and their favorite movies. I don't know if my cousin Vinny is going to come up. Yeah. But I do think that there, I don't know, there's so many things about this movie that are, that are, that are. are delightful and weird. And I don't know. I mean, I know why it works because it's got, you're taking the Fish Out of Water movie,

the courtroom movie, the trial movie. Underdog movie. You're right. Three successful gimmicks coming out of the gate. Well, this is the thing I love about courtroom. Right. Really, what these movies are are sports movies. Exactly.

Yeah. Right? They're all sports movies. Is every movie a sports movie? Yeah. No, he's not a sports movie. right? Is it?

Are we sure? What's a sad one? Dinner versus Pacino for two and a half hours. Yeah, it's like game seven. I was thinking about that when I was watching it the other night where I was just like this, this like final 30 minutes, just like the final 30 minutes for most courtroom movies is the big game. It's like this guy, the lawyer's gotten his shit together.

He's finally figured it out. He got a good night's sleep in this case. And yeah, it becomes basically Hoosiers in the last 30 minutes. And there's usually a rookie, right? The lawyer, we're really. rooting for is either washed up or has never practiced the law before in a meaningful way. And the trial for all of the symbolism or metaphor or allegory for what a trial is in a work of art, like the trial is this realm in which that person either, you know, the washed up verdict version of this person

or a rookie who should not be in court at all. Like defending anybody. Well, there's two types of my cousin Vinny people. There's the type that got worn down by the movie over time because it was always on. And that was me. I didn't love it right away. Did you see it when it came out? Yeah.

And I thought it was fine. I like Morrison Tomey. I remember her from, she was on a different world for like a season or two seasons. She was the white girl on a different world. Yeah, so she was on the radar from that. And I like Pesci, but I was like, all right, enjoyed myself. but then by the late 90s this movie was just on

this is like the definition rewatchable and so it was a slow burn other people loved it right away but people in my family the Italian side they were late they thought this was the funniest movie of all time

that's the other thing culture clash movie right? Oh yeah that's another gimmick you've two different cultures clashing in a very sort of not it's not benign

but it also isn't like it's really rather sweet Yeah, how many Italians versus the South? It's like in that Sopranos when... I mean, Green Book's the only thing I can think of. The Italians versus the South is like the old school Rose Bowl. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Where they used to be like, they never see each other until a Rose Bowl. Like, Michigan versus SC, who could have thought this would come up? Yeah. Who is the gay character in the Sopranos who goes to New Hampshire in hiding? Oh. Vito. Vito Spadiphar? And all of a sudden, he's in New Hampshire. It's like Italians, New Hampshire.

Yeah. And there was that other one when Tony was on the college visit. He was like in Maine. Yeah. So it's always fun to see the Italians. I could say this because I'm half-time out of their element. This is like the all-time Italians out of their element. Do you know what the thing is?

It's funny that you should, you sounded a little ambivalent about this movie as you first started talking about it. And I was wondering like, like, this is. No, I'm not ambivalent. No, I know. Yeah. This is a really old-fashioned movie. Oh, yeah. Like the gags are old-fashioned.

Mm-hmm. The, like, I was watching. this and I was like, we do a lot of of what's aged this and what age this, that. It's not even that there's anything that's aged the worst in this movie, although I'm sure we'll come up with some stuff. It's more that it's just like, if you showed this to a kid today.

I don't know if you've been watched this. Oh, my kids were out in 10 minutes. I was trying to make them out. The pacing technology and even just like the stakes are kind of like, well, of course they're going to, like, you're going to get these guys off. This was like a mistake in the beginning. It can't go

that far, right? And it's, it's almost like pressed in Sturgency where it's just like it's kind of screwball and its conception. Yes. But not an execution though. No. I was thinking it's because it's 90, 92, but it's still the legacy of that three's company era of misunderstandings.

That could be entire episodes. That whole misunderstanding sitcom era, which Friends was like the last one that really dove into it. And now nobody does it. But because of any of it, two of them in the first 20 minutes. It's like, oh, I thought you meant this. It's like you hear the woman in behind the door. and she's just putting her stockings on,

but you think she's having sex? And the whole time you're like, what? Yeah, Chris said he's moving. Wait, Chris isn't moving. He was talking about his neighbor. Yeah. And this was, what, 53's company episodes? Yeah.

There's a lot in this movie where it doesn't work. You really have to be kind of well-versed in American... Pop culture. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, entertainment, TV entertainment culture, right? where you have to know that this is kind of like a body, almost vaudeville level series of misunderstandings. Because it doesn't work, it's not like Moliere.

It's not like a European misunderstanding. It's a really crass American. Yeah, they weren't expecting us to be breaking down, like, picky nits 31 years later, my cousin, Vinnie. It's kind of like a TV movie. It's like a well-done TV movie with great actors. Uh-huh. it's 15 minutes too long

and the last half hours lights out as soon as he gets his shit together it's just humming down the stretch and it needs him there's a couple things that the movie probably could have been 75 it's two hours and it probably could have been 75 minutes

because there's a whole stretch where Joe Pesci is a little stupider than he needs to be well he's constantly falling asleep like the gag of him not being able to sleep and him just being out of it in court which now this time I watched it. I was like, so this entire time

it's just because he's not getting any sleep. That's why he's not a great lawyer immediately. That didn't occur to me until watching it this time. Yeah. He finds coffee. David Mamet told the director that it's the best American comedy ever written.

Wow. Dave. Should we change the SAAS hottest state to the David Mamet hot a state? I'm going to settle down juice, Dave. Machio tells the story There was an oral history

about this movie He told this story about talking to Francis Fort Coppola They were doing something for the outsiders And he said We concurred that what defines A great movie is time

Very few people can rat awful When the Oscar The last two years We've talked about Apocops Now, the godfather On the waterfront What's that story? Rocky.

You know them instantly My cousin Vinnie is like One of those movies It was successful when it came out But it wasn't like Stop what you're doing go see this movie, you're going to be quoting it for the next 30 years.

And he says, the only thing that does that to a movie is time. It's kind of the point of this podcast. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just kind of never know. Like, this is the end. I wouldn't have guessed five years ago it was going to be a rewatchable, but it just kind of started to age nicely and you smelled the bouquet of the movie. Oh, yeah.

I just didn't realize that fruit was in there. Oh. This is how I'm feeling about 21 bridges, you know? Oh, you think? Oh, no. All right. And triple frontier? What was the other one?

Sure. Triple Frontier, yeah. I think you're not wrong. See? I can watch that with this. You agree that theory about sometimes time is the movie's best friend?

Well, you know, what's funny is I don't think I've seen this movie in its entirety since it's out. This goes back to the original kind of like conception of the pot

of like you were kind of watching these movies out of order because you would watch 30 minutes here you'd catch the last half hour and this is the ultimate it, oh, hey, hold on, like, Joe Pesci's about to do. Yeah, he's getting his shit together.

He's got the last couple of witnesses here. Like, let's watch him do the measuring tape. Yeah, yeah. Like, that's what this movie is to me, for sure. Well, I mean, also, it's her lines, right? It's Fred Gwyn and Marissa Tomey. And, like, just Fred Gwynne's reactions to Joe Pesci and Marissa Tomey's, you know, she's the most quotable person in the movie.

Yeah. Right? Like, the biological clock where she's stamping on the, on the, porch. I use just the right amount of torque. Yeah. You're right. Or like, oh, you, oh, you blend. You know, that sort of stuff. Like, it's just, it's so quotable. And anytime the movie is on and she's there, I would stop. Well, I hate to bring it up because I know you got enough pressure on you already. But we agreed to get married as soon as you won your first case. Meanwhile, 10 years later, my niece, the daughter of my sister is getting married. My biological clock is

taken like this. And the way this case is. going, I ain't never getting married. Yeah, let's talk about her because she wins the Oscar for this. It doesn't end up doing a lot for her. Because like her, this is what she did after this movie. Equinox, she's in Chaplin,

Untamed Heart. But those were attempts to make her a star. Untamed Hart. On Tamed Hart was. Christian Slater. It did all right. Good Pittsburgh movie. Yeah. The paper, only you. The Perez family, four rooms. Unhooked the stars. By 96,

it's like, she blew them on. She won the Oscar. But Bill, there's a couple of things. Number one. Yeah, do your thing. I don't know if anybody remember. Well, we all remember. She was nominated.

Her competition that year was, I think I can do this. Vanessa Redgrave. Howard's End. For Howard's End. Miranda Richardson for damage. Judy Davis, Husbands and Wives. Judy Davis, Husbands, and Wives. And another British person.

I feel like I'm watching Otani bat right now. Yeah, this is good. Joan Plow Right for Inchanity April. And Joan Plow Right for her. So it's four British ladies and Marissa Tomey. The people missing from this category include Alphrey Woodard for Passion Fish and Helena Bonham Carter for Howardson. Wrong person from Howard's in with all due respect to the grave of Nessarrett Grave. With Alffeyward and Helena Bottom Carter out of the running, you've got these four British ladies.

I think- By the way, Rosie Perez also missing. for white man Kenjo. Oh, that was another, that was another snub one. They would make it up the next year, but that's a, that's a good, that's a good, put Chris through puberty, put like 10 chest stairs on his chest. Rosie should have nominated for that movie. And I think they canceled each other out.

I also think if you watch this movie, because the reason she's nominated is because there was just this momentum, the movie was a hit. And I think if you watch this movie, that courtroom scene, is just a tour de force. It's amazing.

The two of them are incredible, but she's amazing. Yeah, you want to say this is ridiculous, I can't believe she won the Oscar, and then you watch this movie, you're getting like, she's fucking amazing.

Yeah. Give her the Oscar. Okay, I'm saying that. Can I give you one more snub? Okay. Roxy from Basic Instinct. Just for the nightclub scene? Lights out.

Yeah. You know, naked Michael Douglas just strolling around, this scrotum bouncing around. Jesus, nonplussed. So I was non-blest. Anyway, so that that was one piece,

but then the other piece is the bigger piece. The other pieces, I don't exactly know what happens, but if you watch Jack Palance, they announced the five names. Jack Palance, last year supporting actor winner for City Slickers. This was also a time when people were winning for hit movies. Yep. Wopi Goldberg for ghosts,

Jack Pallens for City Slickers, then Marissa Tomei. And in previous Oscars, does the push-ups. He does the push-ups. Billy Crystal. It's the height of Billy Crystal. Right.

The Oscars really mattered in the early 90s. This was a thing that everybody watched. And so everybody's watching these Oscars, and it just seems like, did he say the right name? Right. Did he mean to say some other name and said Marissa Tomey? Did he mean Miranda Richardson?

Right, yeah. Right. And. Or did he do it? just said, fuck it. I'm just going to say the one name because I'm Jack Palance. I just want to pick the person that I find the prettiest or something. Yeah. But there was this cloud over her win. And I think that cloud for, you know, unfairly and somewhat ridiculously, if you think about it, followed her for at least a few years. But then part of that cloud was people going, well, that would

never actually happen. And then it fucking happens, 25 years later. Right. Right. Right. With the moonlight, La La Land disaster. Do you think it happened, C.R? No, I think that was a legitimate win. It's like what Wesley's saying is like it was just a time when they were just like we should, they were also like they had their eyes open to comedies, maybe a little bit more, obviously, with city slickers. And they were just rewarding comic box office smash performances in a way that they just completely

turned their back on. And then we stopped making those movies anyway. You're not going to be surprised to know conspiracy bill has been on this for a while. Okay. Especially when YouTube came into our lives in the mid-2000. and the Oscars started popping up there. It's like, all right, let me really check this out once and for off. I believe the David Stern thing, the frozen envelope,

way more than the Jack Palance. I would say like 90% on the David Stern freezing the Knicks envelope side. I'm like 10%. I don't think you'd be ruled out that Jack Palance was like, ah, fuck it, I'm Jack Palance. I'm just going to say a different name. Right. And they're like, nobody's going to like confront him on this.

Right. But she really is that good. She is that good. And the thing that's heartening about this, if we're going to stand Marissa Tomey for a second, is it's... It's not as if... I mean, this is a person who got two more Academy Award nominations.

Yeah. And, you know, I think has been vindicated since that win, right? Because usually winning that award is a curse. It's just for a lot of people, they never work again. Yeah. The careers are they never take off. Pretty fearless actor. Yeah.

She was in that Philip Seymour Hoff movie that starts with like a pretty, pretty rowdy sex scene. Before the devil knows you. Oh, everybody in that movie should have been nominated for something. And the wrestler, she's really good. She's good at playing,

I even, I liked on Taint Park. Oh, yeah. Not the greatest movie, but she's good at playing these like kind of damaged woman with a heart of gold kind of performances. And she even taps into that. And this one,

why are you a bunch of movies? I think she does a bunch of movies that you're like in different circumstances. She's in some, what's the rom-com she's in with Robert Downey? Only you, which originally was called him. And it was a lot more interesting. I remember this because I was all in a Marissa Tome. And I think it was originally called him.

And she was the more, she was, I don't know if she was the bigger star, but they were kind of equal in some way. And then it turned, it was made cute in a way that just kind of ruined the movie and compromised it, but it was a little bit more desperate and a little darker. Yeah.

And then it just got polished up and turned into a fairy tale, basically. You know what her most famous thing probably was? The Seinfeld episode. At the time, yeah. Yeah. It's probably like 50 million people saw that.

She's probably now at this point best known for Spider-Man. Yeah. Wow. It's upsetting that she wasn't in the Sopranos. Well, I feel like she could have nailed the Annabella Seora part,

who's also great in the Sopranos. She's great. She's great. No fault to her, but I wish they had written her into that. I also feel like Debbie Mazar's career seemed to be like a Marissa Tomei impersonation. Especially in an entourage. She just seems like she's doing my cousin Vinnie. And then in our movie, kicking and screaming.

Or go Carabuno. Carabono with, what's our guy's name? Chris Agamon. Yeah. And she's the girlfriend. And she's basically the My Cousin Vinny lady. Right. Yeah.

But I do feel like a lot of people tapped into this performance for their own benefits. The one that I wish, you know, this comes a little bit before my cousin Vinnie, I think, is I think she would have been a great Sophia Coppola for Godfather Three. Oh, wow. Yes, that's 1990. Oh, C.R. Yes, I agree. And I don't know. She would have been old enough.

Yeah. She would have been old enough. Yeah. You know who else would have been a great Sophia Coppola and Godfather III? Anybody else. All other actresses. Yeah, that's a good one, Chris. That's a really good one.

I mean, the thing about Marissa Tomey is we could recast movies with her all day long. Backdraft. Yep. Oh, shit. She could have played all the part, all the, you know, Rebecca DeMorne. The Jennifer Jason Lee part, yeah. Do you think she could have done? Have you scouting?

Why is so interested in what I say and what I do, lady? But she could have been Amy Brennan. She could have. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Have you scouted backdraft at all recently? Yeah, it's a mess.

It's a mess. I like that era, though, of just. just let's throw a bunch of people in a movie with a good director. And give him my job. We care more about the trailer than the actual movie. It's like the paper. It's like it's, I mean,

blockbuster dramas. And Marissa Tomey is in that. She's great in the paper. She's really good in the paper. She's just basically like, I'm hot and pregnant for like four scenes. She's doing my cousin. She's been asked to do a version of my cousin Vinny.

I do wonder with certain people who are as distinct as her, with like with from an ethnic bent. Mm-hmm. Like whether you just get pigeon old. Because I do feel like that happened with Rosie Perez a little bit too. Oh, yeah. Yeah. where people just you can't unsee the defining character.

And that happened with Rosie with White Man Can't Jump. But definitely Marissa, like the my cousin Benny thing seemed to linger over her for a while. And then she got older. And then she's in the wrestler. She's in that Hoffman movie and it kind of went away. I think that her and in the bedroom. She's got that great scene in the bedroom. Oh, right.

Where Sissy Space Act, like, walks up to her and slaps the shit out of her. Yeah. And she stands there. her reaction to being slapped like that is what gets her that Oscar nomination. And she just is really good with her lights turned down real low. I gotta say one Oscar

and two other nominations. Like, not bad. She's, who's the lady that drives me crazy that she has six? What's that? Amy Adams. She's no Amy Adams. Who's the lady who drives me crazy

who has six? I know. Just sick seems excessive for the Amy Adams career. What? Oh, my God. We can't even do this right now. I mean, you know Amy Adams. You want to go?

It's my Marissa Tomey part two. You want to go after you told me you like contact yesterday when we were doing a time to kill? You want to fight again? I don't want to fight about, like, in contact. But I will. Wesley likes contact. I like, you guys are. I don't like him in contact, but I like the movie.

But the thing about Marissa Tomei, if, like, the thing of the thing that sort of, when you're thinking about her as an Italian actress, right, an Italian-American actress, I think there was that weird moment in the 90s where anybody who is Mediterranean in any way played anybody else Mediterranean. Yeah, right?

So a lot of Italians playing Spaniards, a lot of like British, Alfred Molina playing everybody, you know, that's right. You don't even have to be Mediterranean. You can just be, you know, in some way Arab,

you know, Maori. it doesn't matter. But if there's a need for the Saudi Arabian terrorist or a Spanish emperor, you could do Antonio Banderas for all of those things. You could do, right. You could cast somebody in all those parts.

And Mursa Tomei was one of those people, too. Well, and. All right, so why was, was she in a spike movie? No. Did she never do a spike movie? So she's not in. Well, think of the movie she's not in. She's not in Goodfellas.

No, she missed a sopranos. And no spike, even though she's a Brooklyn person. She could have easily killed in a spikely movie. But again, like, I mean... Did Annabel Seora market correct her a tiny bit there for like two years? Maybe. Maybe. But that was...

But the height of Annabelle Scura was before... My cousin Vinnie. Yeah. So I think, actually, Marissa Tamay might have... She and Annabelliskeura might have been in, you know, how limited the thinking is in this industry. like they might have been competing for the same parts and canceling each other out.

I'm a fan, CR. You want to talk about Pesci 89 to 92? Yeah, let's take a break and then we'll do that. This episode is brought to by Whole Foods Market. Spring is here, so celebrate it with fresh, juicy, seasonal produce and some very tasty limited time flavors. New Whole Foods, Market Peach, Apricot, Rose, Italian soda.

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All right, Joe Pesci, the most improbable A-List movie star I think we've had in my lifetime. from 89 to 95 rips off lethal weapon goodfellas home alone jfk my cousin biddy home loan too and casino but also it was in the super and he had a came in the bronx tale jimmy hollywood with honors within seven years i mean that's almost like a rewatchable's hall of fame roster and then retires from acting three years later it's like we all collectively had like a joe peshy drug binge and for seven years we were just like him And, you know, that's box office, baby.

During that period, he gets, you know, he wins an Oscar. And I think obviously he's the holdover from that 70s prioritization of people who just look like people becoming movie stars, right? Who are also very good actors. Yeah. But he seemed like comic relief sidekick guy. And that was like when his career takes off, made a night and leave the weapon two. Yeah. It was kind of like, yeah, we know this is a sequel.

Have we done a sequel? weapon two on the pot. Yeah, we did it. So we've done all these movies now on the rewatchables. Yeah, we have. Including JFK. Yeah. Um, yeah. So, but he's like comic relief sidekick guy. I never thought he was going to be leading man guy. But then this is leading made movie guy. Yeah. But basically the leading man as the sidekick as leading man, right? Right. Because there's a version of this movie where it's just about Ralph Machio and the other guy. Sure. That's a rough movie. It's a shank.

That's it. But somebody knew that, right? Because you get no scenes. And once the two of them show up in town, like you really never see them again except for at the trial. And when they talk to each other about how bad a lawyer. Once they drop the public defender especially, they're just like, yeah. It's the right amount, right usage rate for those guys.

So explain Pesci to us. What happened? You mean how did the good stuff happen? How do I explain this to my son that this guy was one of the biggest stars we had for seven years? Because we made comedies. We used to make comedies with really low stakes, and he is a guy who would just go for it. And I don't know, I don't know what Scorsese or Oliver Stone

would say about how intense he is as an actor. But like, if you think about what he's doing in JFK, that really weird part, what's his name, David Ferris? Yeah, David Ferry. And, you know. Don't get JFK stuff wrong around Chris. It's just a terrible idea. Sorry.

But, you know, his eyebrows, that wing. Yeah. It's just he will, he will do anything you ask him to do. Like the sort of weird, like self-accepting gay stuff. Yeah. That character was acting and embodying with honors. You know, he's a homeless guy at Harvard Square. It's, and you just, even when you don't believe it.

Still can't believe that movie happened. Even when you don't believe him or when he's like, essentially bad, as he is in JFK, the willingness to go as far out as he needs to work somehow is that's a winning thing. Home alone does not work.

If he does not believe if you're not like, this guy's terrifying. They made enough movies back then so that guys could play against type so that they could have a type and then they could make movies that played with that type.

This is really all we have now is you can either be a hero or you can be a villain once we've decided, like if Chris Evans was like, I'll play the Joker now or something like that. You'd be like, oh, wow, I guess like, well, he was Captain America. That's pretty weird, but it's not an interesting thought exercise.

What's an interesting thought exercise is, what if Edward G. Robinson was also Buster Keaton? Like, what if this guy who is like the scariest gangster was also like a huge physically gifted comedian who was willing to fall in mud? You know, like, and that's what he does in this movie. is it's like all the Goodfellas stuff is in there. Everything you think about this guy when he gets out

and he gets out of a Cadillac or whatever he's driving and you're just like, in Goodfellas, then he goes up to somebody and starts kicking their face in. But in this, he falls in the mud. And then he puts on a circus performer suit. Like, everything is playing against tight. Yeah, when he walks into the courtroom and he's wearing the thrift store,

you know, ringmaster suit. Yeah. He is so mad that he has to wear it. But what he's acting is the confidence of a person who knows he looks like an idiot does not want to get into it. But these are the clothes that you basically have forced me to wear because this town is just muddy as shit. Yeah. And there's a there's a kind of like resignation, anger, and a willingness to at this point in the movie get down to business and get this trial over with. Yeah.

that I just... I was even thinking about, like, the idea of a guy, like Joe Pesci, who I'm fairly certain in most of the movies where he wants to be taken seriously is wearing a wig. In JFK, the whole thing is he's wearing a bad wig. Like, that takes a lot of, like, you have to have the capacity for self-deprecation that's pretty huge there. I had this improbably in answerable questions,

but we can do it now. Is he the greatest wig actor we've ever had? He's the greatest wig actor. I've no idea what his hair actually looks like. Yeah, I mean, because, you know, is there a moment in, um... Is the Irishman he have? I was about to ask, I think there's a moment in the Irishman where he doesn't... Right, yeah.

Yeah. But I mean, even like the, the, the acknowledgement that what we had previously been seeing is this other thing, right? Like, Joe Pesci, bald, not bald? Definitely bald. Yeah, bold. I mean, mostly bald, right? You can see in my cousin Vinny the way the hairline works on this particular thing. Hair piece. Yeah.

Yeah, it's actually. But I've got to say, I'm sure many people had watched this movie over the, you know, 31 years we've had it and I thought like, what is she doing with him? Yeah. Yeah. Well, there's an age difference that in the research, they were really careful about, you know, makeup and lighting for, so it wasn't obvious that he was twice the age. What was the age difference?

Excessive. Really? I have it in the research. What was he? 40 something? She was like 24. And he was like 40. 48, 49.

All right. Well, that's not insignificant. But I think he's kind of sexy in this part. I'm not, listen. You just got to take my word for it. I've learned to keep my guard up with you, but this scene for you is really strange. He's kind of sexy in this movie.

Well, has any short actor, he's Pesci's 5'3? Yeah. Been able to, A, B, as big of a star, but then B also pull off, like, menacing scenes. Not since. 30s, right? Puccino. Yeah.

And he's like, gonna be like, you $200 or I'll kick your ass and that whole thing. And you're like, this guy's a foot taller than him. But I'm kind of thinking like, hey, Joe Pesci, you might be able to take him. Yeah, he could do it. Yeah. Yeah. He's something about the way he carried himself worked. But how many, like, who are the shortest?

It's street smart. Yeah. It's street smart. Who are the shortest big actors ever? Robinson, Cagney, Keaton, Chieton, Chaplin. Yeah, you're going back. Cruz, nine years. Well, I mean.

It's like five, six. But we can't, but you know, but they'll never know, right? There's all this lying about it. I mean, I think the thing that's so refreshing about Pesci is even the thing that he seems to be the most self-conscious about is so obviously false. Yeah, yeah.

That you kind of just go with that part of the construction too. And so this is clearly a person who knows himself and understands that there is a kind of ridiculousness to being seen by masses of people that, you know, we talked, we had a whole conversation yesterday about McConaughey and the hair and the idea that the reason McConaughey,

one of the reasons, probably, that he didn't have an even more nutso career in terms of the roles and the box office, et cetera, was... He was losing his hair. Yes. Yeah. And Pesci knows that's probably not going to help him.

Right, because he's also so short. Right. He's short and bald? No. Right. And so I think, you know, think about Ed Harris, right? Totally different actor, you know, trains in a probably very different way. Sure.

But what if Ed Harris just basically did every role in a hair piece? He does a lot of them in a hair piece and it's always pretty distracted. But at his, and right, and at his peak when he was like in the 80s and early 90s. When he's in the firm, full bald. Right. Yeah. I think that the only parts for bald guys during that period was villain. Yeah.

So one thing with this movie, it snuck up on everybody, including the studio, 20th Century Fox, who had loaded up on Alien 3 and Wet Men Can't Jump. And you had Wainsworld was out, basic instinct was about to blow up. And this movie just kind of waltzes in, seeming like it's like... People had choices. Yeah, a possible TV movie. And people were like, what's this? And it does really well.

up making $11 million dollar budget made $64 million. That's good. That's good. And it goes on for like decades after that. Our guy, Raj, he says two and a half stars. My cousin Vinny is a movie that meanders along going nowhere in particular. And then lightning strikes. It's a kind of movie home video is invented for, not worth the trip to the theater,

but slam it into the VCR and you get your rentals worth. That feels like he wrote that after the movie came out. But he's right. This became a great rental. slash TNT HBO I can imagine if you watch this movie blind that first 70% of the movie

you're just like, what am I watching? Is this guy going to pull it together? Because it does have a very easygoing pace to it. And then it gets to the last 30 and you're just like, oh, that's why I watch it. Most rewatchable scenes, the police confession confusion with Machio. It's fun.

Wait, you know, this is a comedy. it's a, obviously at some point they're gonna have to tell him what he's in jail for, they don't. But it's still kind of funny that they're having two separate conversations. Right. And all of a sudden, machos being charged with murder. Same thing with Pesci

when he goes to the cell and it's, uh... You meet Stan. He meets Stan. Who thinks it's a prison rate negotiation? You just need to jerk me off. I don't want to do this. But I understand, but you know, what are you alternatives?

My alternatives? Yeah. To what to you? I don't know. Suicide, death? Look, it's either me or them. You're getting fucked one way or the other. Again, like, it works in some way because Pesci's acting the joke.

Yeah, he's almost in an SNL sketch. Right? He's making him sit down. There's a way in which, like, if there weren't a joke and the other guy was like, okay, I'll jerk. you off. Peshi'd be like, let's go. Do it. That's the director's cut.

It's just like, let's go. Whatever it takes. I have collect in the 200. I like when he goes, oh, a counteroffer. Yes. That whole thing. The Vinnie fighting to keep the case and macho convincing his buddy

to keep him on. That whole stretch is pretty good. I like the pre-imposed deer hunting scene for Marissa Tomey. Yeah. It's called disclosure, you dickhead. That is a great lie. Just everything she's doing on both sides of that is really good.

When he comes back to the hotel room or whatever and she's sitting in the chair reading the law book, I was like, okay. What a girlfriend. This has to go somewhere. I remember thinking that as a kid. This scene has to go somewhere. And then we have the three on the stand scenes, the two Utes and the grits. Grits.

Chris, do you like your grits? Regular, creamier. Al dente. What are you? I think I like him. I'm a creamy guy. Oh, you're creamy. I figure because of your Italian heritage, you know.

All of that, when he starts to all in it up, the movie really kicks in. We don't believe that boiling water soaks into a grit faster in your kitchen than on any place in the face of the earth. And all the jurors are just like, yeah. I mean, but that's the great thing. So, okay, this is a, this is a, this is a cold. culture clash movie, right? Initial, right? It's about some New Yorkers

who go to Alabama and they don't know how it works and these Alabamans are like, who the hell are these people? And the grits, somebody realized that the grits are the cultural unifying

factor here. Like he doesn't understand it's polenta, but at some point he basically figures out like, we grits too, we Italians. Set it up with the breakfast scene. Yeah. They call it back.

They do a great job. It's a great. It's a great, great moment. Just as like a lawyer, getting the guy to say how he likes his grits, which then establishes, oh, that takes 15 minutes to make it that way. And then he can hang them on it. It's just really smart. It's good.

And he's really good. And watching the jury, I don't know, if you've been in these courtroom movies, if you've been watching the juries respond to the, to the person doing the stuff, either the lawyer or the person on the stand. Yeah. But it's been really pleasurable watching the actors playing the jury in these movies. Yeah. And there's a moment, there's a black woman on the far right. And she's not.

Yeah, nod. She is really in to both the grits and Marissa Tomey's, the part we're going to get to later. But this woman is doing the most as juror number or whatever. Would you have been a juror number or whatever in a movie, CR? Oh, I would love to. Yeah. You'd have been good, right? Yeah.

Just like, student. Sometimes I zone out I'd be worried for like my like I'd be like I miss that hour I was thinking about like The Sixers I was in a jury for three days in the late 90s And three days

And I wrote an entire column Pretended I was taking notes And I just wrote like an NBA com Longhand What was the How bad was the case It was pretty boring For the most part

Okay But it wasn't like you were like in charge Of a guy's life right No Okay That you right remember. I'm sure he's fine.

He's fine. He's out of jail now. The thicker glass is seen. Some guys are, I'm coming for you, Sin in. I do I do that guy's face. The thicker glasses scene

with the tape measure, just good theater. And then my winner would be Motel Lisa on the stand. Yeah. Just great stuff. It's a, when you watch it,

if you watch it with the sound off, then you watch that, basically him addressing her. I've seen people, watch this on the plane. It looks like a dance sequence. He's like, he dances up there. He dances back.

He hops up on the table. He was like, I would love. You know, like, it's everything about it is so beautifully choreographed. And she's so great. It almost looks like a silent movie. She turns away from him. And then she sort of like warms up. It's fantastic.

Well, ultimately the reason I think this movie is so beloved is the two of them just had awesome chemistry. Yeah. Every scene they're in. They just work together. And you under, you never question why. they're together, right? I don't know how they met, but like,

I'm always glad they did. Do you have a ball busting couple in your life like this? It's like part of their charm is how they kind of go at each other, but it's never too bad. I feel like this has been kind of like weirdly, weirdly because now it's like therapy is so like widely accepted and couples therapy is like, I don't feel like we, I know a lot of couples who like show up to the restaurant. I'm like, this fucking guy is driving me crazy tonight.

And it's like, if it did, it would be like, kind of funny for five minutes. And then it would be like, you know, this is an expensive dinner. Can we get, can we talk about the bear or something? I have a couple of those. Yeah. And you never know. Is it me and my wife? Are we one of the couples?

No, you guys have a different thing. No, thanks. It's not. It's not that. That's not it. But it also doesn't mean that the people don't love each other. Although there are these, there are these moments where like they have brought something outside of this dinner. Yeah.

Into this dinner. whether it's in a restaurant or like, you know, at somebody's house, something between them has entered and it needs adjudication, right? It's like, Sean and his wife, like, last night just watched four Mel Brooks movies in a row for no reason, just to like help his letterbox. Didn't ask, didn't ask me if I wanted to watch. What's age the best?

They say the title in the movie. You know I love nothing more. That should just be a category. I like when they say beans make you fart and the guy, He goes, we got a convertible. Just that's my kind of humor. At one point, it sounds like they say Joey Gallo, but it's Joey Callow, but I was thinking how then we had a Joey Gallo,

the baseball player. Sure. It's kind of fun. The Bruce McGill said, Bruce McGill, who's ineligible for the that guy award. But maybe the all-time that guy. Yeah, he's in like, he graduated with Joe Pan and Leano, a couple others. He said, my cousin Vinny, quote, gets rerun more than anything. done except maybe animal house.

My wife and I saw on a flight recently. I was hysterical to the flight attendants were standing behind and watch me, watch myself and laugh. You do you, Bruce. And then another what's age the best. I forgot about this. The plate gate, as the whole thing's going on,

they're asking Belichick about the PSI and he said, I don't claim to be the Mona Lisa Vito of inflation. Yeah. That's got to be it. Yeah. I totally forgot that. Incredible what's age the best. Belichick.

Yeah. Huge fan of this. movie apparently. I honestly think that if you, if Belichick had done only one pod with you, it should have been this one. My cousin Vinny. Yeah, my cousin Vinny. Well, he just would have broke down all the, uh, interrogations.

He just would have no soul to the entire time. You'd be like, Bill, what do you think of Pesci, 89 to 92? Just like, on to 93. On to what's the odds? Anyhow, what's your best for you? Uh, I mean, I just think that the screenwriting trick of everybody underestimates each other until they find common ground is like a very satisfying

and heartwarming thing to watch. You're gonna put that in your AI file when you're ready scripts. Help from Al. Chat GBT, BT, right? Me as Streetplay where everybody underestimates each other. Yeah.

Do you have anything, Wesley? Marissa Tomey's clothes. Oh, good one. You know, I think, I don't remember when this show starts, but the thing that came to mind watching it a couple days ago was the nanny.

Oh. Brand dresser on the name. Oh, she's another one who ripped off this movie. Now, if you don't remember, if you've never watched the nanny, if you don't remember watching the nanny, I will tell you I'm watching the nanny in its entirety. Why? Because it's like,

sag roll. The nanny is a year after this movie. So that's another. Because I, I have a boyfriend who one day just put on the TV and just started watching it. It's like, if you knew this guy, you'd be like, this guy's just going to sit there and watch the man. The name could be one of those shows that has like 22 seasons or four. I don't even know.

It's got six. Okay. But what's going on right now? Wait, let me just tell you. You can do a lot of things with streaming. It's really weird. Because it's on HB. It's on Max.

And the thing that came to mind as I was watching, it was two things. Three, actually. Thing number one, one of the great Jewish shows ever put on TV. Very Jewish. Okay. Number two, Fran Drescher, basically doing Mona Lisa Vito and my cousin Vinnie. But in a different way, right? The writing is as good for her on that show.

It's better for her on that show than it is for Marisa Tomey in this movie. And the third thing is the clothes are phenomenal. This jumpsuit that Marissa Tomei wears on the porch where she's doing the My Biological Flux scene. Yeah. What is that? It's beautiful. Yeah. A couple shoulder pads outfits

The shoulder pads You've got this black This black suit with like Purple trim and gold studs on it I mean the hair The hair But then there are these great moments Where she doesn't have any makeup on

She doesn't appear to have any makeup on Yeah when she's in like the hotel room and stuff And she's just like sitting around With wet hair and no makeup She looks great Just phenomenal Just the clothes in this movie I think of age the best

The styling I guess is the way to play You know my friend dress your thoughts right No. I think she's smoking. I always thought she was smoking hot. She's so sexy on the... She's so good-looking. Chris. Chris.

Chris. I know you're cracking up right now because you think this shit is ridiculous. Fran Dredger's a smoke shot. You know what? I'm not going to get mad at you because you and I have so much in common with actresses we love,

but this is the funniest thing you've ever seen. Oh, C.R. Two gay dudes sitting on a sofa smoking show saying to each other, Fran Drescher. C. There's more of us out there. You watch what happens to your lies.

You have to watch this. And the show knows it. She's in Saturday Night Fever. It's never occurred to me. One of the people who loves Tony. And it's like, whoa, Fran. That's probably why it is for you then. No.

No, she's hot in the nanny. Chris, they know. I know I'm weird. I'm like Edie Falco and Copeland is the hottest thing I've ever seen. So I'm not saying I'm cool. You just brought this up yesterday. I did. Well, we were talking about Sandra Boggs trying to smoke.

in a time to kill. It doesn't go great. Yeah. Oh, my God. Fran Drescher. And they're holding a cigarette like this. They should have made a movie with Sandra Bullock in a time to kill

and Laura Linnie in primal fear. And they're just, they're just like, each of them are two-handed it. Cruz is somehow holding a pack. I'm not letting you escape this friend Dresher moment. Because... It's not a moment.

There's more of us out there. It's not just me. She was great looking. Also, funny. I mean, the reason that it was easy to rip off Marissa Tomei for a lot of these writers and actors was

there's a whole world of so-called ethnics out there who have great comic timing are really sexy and know what to do with a part that lets them be some version of themselves, right?

And Fran Drescher, I mean, she's not a great actor, but she's a great comedian. And she just she knows how to use the irony of the brain that you don't think she has with this body in those clothes. And it's just, yes.

If Marissa told me, if my husband had been in a TV show. Trying to find a good picture for C.R. It would have been the name. I've seen a friend dresser before. I just, I don't think you've seen her the way she should be seen. I don't know. It just, you watch the show and you can't believe how sexy she is.

And funny. Okay. Let's move on to the Kid Cuddy, Pursuit a Happiness Award for Best Needle Drop. The opening credits. Yeah. I like that. Oh, the fabulous Thunderburg.

Yeah, whatever's going on. The Big Kahuna Burger were best use of food and drink. Clearly, the breakfast won. Breakfast. Breakfast. One, breakfast. Two, lunch, three.

We'll try breakfast. Dinner. Eggs, bacon, and grits. What do you have for the Dennett thieves, Benihana word for scene-stealing location? I had the courtroom. Yeah. Also seems to be the place

where the entire town goes. One of the things that was a little bit of a pick and knit for me was, did anything else have? Did anything else have? in this town during the trial because the entirety of the town seems to be there. Well, it's a little Groundhog Day is right? I was going to say Groundhog Day is a thing

that came out for me watching this too. I also want to say that, you know, one of the things about courtroom month is that race is an element in most of these movies, right? I don't remember primal fear and

I know Alfred Woodard's in it. Is she in it? Yeah, she's the judge. Right. Okay, black judge. Like the way that race functions in this world of the courtroom movie is really fascinating to me. Because it's true for everything that we're talking about this month. And I think in this movie, the thing that kind of warmed my heart was that you're in like middle of nowhere, Alabama, wazoo Alabama. And it is a, it is a like warmly integrated community. There is no ostensible rate.

The only, the racial tension. is between the Italians and everybody else. So you wouldn't want to keep her Sutherland like in row two? He looked on his face. I have two books next to my bed. The Great Check Order Award,

most cinematic shot, would you have for this? I didn't really have one. I didn't have one either. I don't think this is most cinematic movie. I guess like there's a shot of James Rebhorn that's supposed to be out of like Hitchcock or something where it's like a Dutch angle.

Oh, yeah, it's not. The Butch's girlfriend Award for the, weak link of the film. You know, the murder charge is the weak link of the film. Yeah. There's no way in the world. This kid's confessing to something that they didn't even tell them what it was and now we're just in a murder.

Yeah, they're like, there could have been something. It's a leap of faith. Yeah. Yeah, it's a leap of faith. And yet, didn't you say at some point that the legal community loves this movie? I think because of the trial stuff actually is apparently because I think

Jonathan Lynn used to be a a lawyer and made sure that all the stuff was like was pretty tight. What's age the worst? Would you start with Ralph Machio's mustache or Ralph Macho playing basketball? Yeah, if you had to go with one. Yeah, I was wondering who you felt like machio's comps were.

But with basketball? As a player, yeah. He seemed really intent and he driveled, which is usually a bad sign. Kind of Scott Skiles. Not kind of sure what his shot was. Yeah. He's looking at it.

set up other guys. So maybe that was the problem in prison that there wasn't a lot of team basketball going on. He reminded me of when like a taco fall type, the 7 foot 6 guy that's kind of learning how to shoot. I probably would have not had the basketball scene but the mustache is just a grievous. It's really bad.

I also think they're uniforms. Like are they imprisoned? They're in prison. Or grease. Like, there are racing stripes on the sides of the uniforms. What's happening? So this is a what's age of the worst Just from an impact standpoint

When this movie came out Herman Munster was the judge But now it's Fred Gwynn And it's a famous Fred Gwimpart But in 1992 it's like Herman Munster is the fucking judge Because the Munster The Munster's still on TV

Almost every day And he got typecast by that Mitchell Whitfield plays Stan Who also played Dr. Barry on Friends Who Rachel left at the altar Totally forgot about this I might have auditioned a few more actors They did.

Well, oh, you're excited for the cast and what if Wesley doesn't know that one. I don't know. I don't know. He's going to walk out, like, and come back and do the rest of the time. Can't wait for that. Stuttering public defender guy. Pretty brutal. Well, and the actor played a Austin Pendleton.

The great Austin Pendleton. Who said in 2022 he felt the role nearly ended his career and he received angry letters from the stuttering community. He regrets being in it. I was like, whoa. way more info this is fucking dumb comedy you didn't you really didn't need you didn't need that entire

you didn't need it almost didn't need that whole part of the movie you're looking ways to cut down and maybe the 140 range yeah you don't need to switch lawyers halfway through just to like that's the guy that sort of makes Stan realize that he's made a mistake right and should have stayed with Pesci the whole time

they said in the stuff about the behind the scenes of the movie that they're like dying during those scenes you can kind of see them laughing match With also, the build up to it when you're just like, wow,

this guy's going to kick some ass, what's going to happen here? And he's like, walks up and then he's like, oh, shit. Yeah, it's terrible,

but also as comedy, right? We intend to prove that the prosecution's case is circumstantial and, and, and,

and, coincidental. Thank you. I don't know how you don't think about what's stuttering. is. But if you think about, they could have found some other device. Yeah. That wasn't stuttering. Yeah, he could have

have like a high pitch voice or something. Yeah. Because you don't expect whatever it is he's going to do it to happen. But it's just playing that for comedy is low. One more Woods Age the Worse for you guys. Do you have any Chris? I do. What do you got? It's a bittersweet

what's age the worst, but the guy who wrote this movie, Dale Launer, had like a little bit of a cottage industry of adult comedies. Yeah. of like blind date, ruthless people, dirty rotten scoundrels.

He wrote all those. And it's like, it was just a, this, that's just a movie we do not make at all anymore, pretty much. I mean,

like, yeah, Ruthless people would just be like a pilot on short time now. Dark, tinged, fucked up, but also pretty palatable, enjoyable popcorn movie.

Mm-hmm. And, blind date. Yeah. Oh, would never happen now. He wrote the idol at the weekend.

No, he actually. But yeah, like this guy, like that kind of like, oh man, this is like this reliable date movie that's also a little fucked up. Another one's age the worst. Bruce McGill comes in pretty hot in the oral history. He says Joe Pesci pretty much monopolized Marissa's time off set. She wasn't going out to dinner with the rest of us nor was Joe. He just lived the relationship that in the film took a lot of time with her.

Joe may not tell this to any interviewer, but it was a Spengali. relationship. He felt responsible for how good she was and not without reason. A little too much information. A little bit later, he comes in hotter on Pesci. He was very hard on Jonathan Lynn, the director, which I thought was just terribly unfair. I was probably a little embarrassed at some of the exchanges. And he said one day Joe stormed off the courtroom set. Something happened. Jonathan laughed. Joe just turned and said, what, do you think I'm here to entertain you and threw a bit of a hissy pick? He said, find something else to shoot. I'm leaving and he actually walked off

the set. Oh, wow. Bruce, keep that under wraps, maybe. Yeah. I don't want to think about angry Joe Pesci. So obviously, they didn't end up staying in touch. That's, that's, that's, that's, they're not in a fantasy football league together for my cousin video shooting. I also would like to say, I don't know how you guys feel about this. I'm on the fence about whether it's age the worst or the best.

Okay. Pesci's Ewing. He's wearing Ewing's for the whole movie. Big, blocky, white. Patrick Ewing's. I would say that's age the worst because those were pretty bad even in the early 90s. They look good now though

and they're great for a short person. Just throwing that out there. Oh, interesting. Great short person. As a short person, great short person. Like a blocky platform almost. And, you know, he was doing this at a time when it's supposed to make him seem more Brooklyn.

Yeah. But it also just makes him look cool. He's got cowboy boots and Ewing. Those are his two pieces of foot. wear in this movie. So there's Ron Burgundy Flew to Word. Best time for a P-break. I mean, this movie's 20 minutes too long. Probably when he's sleeping in the car with the owl. Really, it's like, get us to the court. We start doing the trial now. Yes.

It's just the, it's a lot. I think all of that padding about the sleeping, you only need it twice. Yeah. Yeah, you could, you honestly can take all there. Four scenes of it. Is there a better title for this movie? I'm going to say no. Yeah, I Two Utes. That I don't think that would have sung. My cousin, my cousin Vinnie's great. And they say in the movie, best quote, there's nothing to worry about until there's something to worry about.

Solid. Or it's called Disclosure, you dickhead. Yeah. Yeah. Just wonder why I tried to give you his files. I told you why already. He has to. By law, you're entitled.

It's called Disclosure, you dickhead. All right. Here's my Stephen A. Smith-Hivus take a word. Do you have one, CR? The only one I had really was I feel like Judge Holler was a lot of the city's time and money

by putting him in contempt so many times Oh interesting Take him off the case or don't But like don't keep putting him in prison It seems like We've got a lot of problems in this country Maybe stop like putting this guy in jail Just because it gives you a little attitude

I have a scorching hot take I think this movie And movies like it are why people think They can defend themselves in court and that this movie's actually done more harm than good. Oh, man. I think there's that, there had to have been hundreds of people out there who were like,

I just saw my cousin Vinny. I can, he's a guy from Brooklyn he likes to argue. Yeah. Vinny did it? Yeah. And it just went terrible every time. How common is it that somebody tries to defend themselves?

I mean, Ted Bundy did it. That worked out for him, yeah. It was great. You got the gas chamber. This is an interesting question. Yeah, I mean, an interesting thing to suppose. Sure. Okay.

Sure. Because you rarely see it in, I mean, it's usually played for comedy. Yeah. And it's rarely used. You don't say to them like presumed innocent. Want your kids to learn and play every Sunday for free? Plenty kids is using sports and evidence-based wellness coaching to help kids build confidence, resilience,

and the tools they need for life's challenges and opportunities. Every Sunday from April 12th to May 10th, We're running free sessions at the Boys and Girls Club, New Rochelle, for all children. Tap the banner or visit clinickids.com to learn more. That's Clinic with a K. Clinic Kids is a registered 501C3 nonprofit. Snoring, gasping during sleep, feeling fatigued, ask your doctor about Zepbound, terseptite. The first and only FDA-approved prescription medicine for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and adults with obesity.

Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calmedic. calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and obesity to improve their OSA. Zepbound is approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 milligram injection. Zetbound contains terseptitide and should not be used with other terseptide containing products or any GLP1 receptor agonist medicines. It is not known if Zetbound is safe and effective for use in children. Don't share needles or pins or reuse needles. Don't take if allergic to it, or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer, or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2.

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blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsened kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-99 or visit zepbound.lily.com. Casting what ifs. The studio originally wanted for Vinnie. Andrew Dice Clay.

Okay. That's, I can see that. Didn't work out. Didn't work out like he was bad or they couldn't. The timing? Different kind of. movie. Yeah, the screenwriter said, I'm not sure how much of this I can say, but fuck it, why not? The studio vice president had been dating Andrew Dice Clay's manager. The VP met Dice, and he said

something horrible at her. And she said to me, can we take him off the list? And I said, fuck it, that was it. And then he said, I think he would have been good in the movie. I don't think the movie does as well with Andrew Dice Clay is my take. I also worry about Marissa Tomay. Yeah, that's a weird vibe. Jim Belushi said that he regretted turning down the title role in this film. He's the only one who's saying. seems to think it was offered to him, but just mentioning it. They approached Lorraine Braco and Carol Davis from Mona Lisa. They passed.

And then here's the big one. This is from the casting director. We auditioned Will Smith for Rothenstein. His talent was evident. Yep. And Wesley's gone. He has left the building. Did you not know this at all?

He's walking around the table. What? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. 91 range. How would that go? Well, I think they would have tweaked his ethnicity a little bit.

I don't think he's called St. Robenstein. He would have had two scenes. Well, he wasn't famous yet. He was only in where the day takes it was this point. Fresh Prince and that's it. I don't. Even the fresh wool, okay, this is 92.

Okay, that's, all right, fine. Fine. Fundamentally, is this movie better if it's Will Smith instead of Barry from Friends? Yes. Well, no. Wait a minute. Yes. Well, oh, that, there's a whole, it's a whole different movie, right?

Because, all right, Rothstein stands obviously a Jew. Yeah. And you've got these Italians and you're in the deep south. Yeah. But again, one of the things that makes the movie so pleasant is all of the stuff that the movies typically do when they get down there is like start a bunch of racial turmoil shit. Yeah. And this is the opposite of that. It is a perfectly sweetly integrated town.

Right. And to have a black man immediately arrested for murder that he did not commit. It's just a whole other. It would have been really funny though if it was colorblinded. It was just Will Smith is this like Jewish guy. I don't want it. So if you're keeping Scarred home, Wesley would rather have Barry from Friends over Will Smith their movie. Yes.

If it's this movie set where it's set and being what it's about. The question is what movie of Will Smith's does Barry? from friends get in the trade. So is he in bad boys with Martin Lawrence? This is a great question. Six degrees of separation. Also it doesn't work. The Ruffalo Hannah Rubenick Partridge

Overacting Award. The biological clock scene actually dials it up to about 190 miles an hour. He's trying to match Marissa, yeah. And a little matter case, which is in the balance. Just like ghost nuts.

I ain't slept in five days. I got no money. A dress code problem. and a little murder case, which in the balance holds the lives of two innocent kids, not to mention your biological clock, my career, your life, our marriage. And let me see, what else can we pile on? Is there any more shit we can pile on to the top of the outcome of this case? Is it possible?

Best that guy word, Bruce McGill not eligible. The headmaster from son of a woman also not eligible, right? Redhorn? We've decided he's James Redhorn. I mean, he's been in so much. He's James Raporn. I was going to throw up Mori Chakin's a good one.

That's a good one. Which one's that? He's the guy who makes the grits. He's the one who's like, oh, I took him too long. I had Lane Smith. Lane Smith?

Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of... My guy from Bad News Bears and Breaking Training. Huge, huge part of that. Also, you don't realize until you see him next to Pesci what a substantially built person Lane Smith is.

He was around for a pitcher or something. Yeah, he was around for a while. Dan Waiters Award, the diner chef. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Is that,

what's he in two scenes? Yeah. I mean, just wonderful presence, not, talk about non plus. Like, he really is just like,

you can take it or leave it. These are grids. Recasting couch. So you're vetoing Will Smith. You don't want that, my cousin Vinny. You tell me, believe me,

you're, God don't want it. Do you go second kind of 80s nostalgia guy and maybe do a little Corey Feldman as Bill, Stan Rotherton scene? As Dan. Again, it's too much. Is Downey available? Downey

and a bender? Can we grab him? I think Downey at this point was a little big. Big for my cousin Vinnie. Too big. Chapman's not out yet. He's, down is a mess. He's less than zero. Will Wheaton? You know who this person is. Will Wheaton wouldn't be bad. Will Wheaton, I could accept.

Will Wheaton is a good, that's a good one. That's a good one. River Phoenix, probably too much. What about the kid who played young Henry Hill, whatever happened to him. Young Henryo. Oh. And Goodfellas. Like that kid who's just, yeah, I don't know.

He was handsome too. Halfass Center research. The screenwriter Dale Launer came up with the idea after hearing about a lawyer who finally passed the bar after the 13th attempt. It was like, well, what would happen if he represented somebody and kind of kept going? And then he threw himself to the legal process.

The rest of was history. When Vinnie is a good. Explaining his real name, Joe Pesci's character explaining his real name to the judge. He knocks over the chessboard. That was an accident and they just kept in the movie. I was like when they went out. That's cool.

Didn't be now. Machio said he's often asked to sign cans of tuna. Oh yeah, that's the other kind of sweet thing about this movie, right? It's all hinges on like a 30 cent can of tuna. He thinks that what this is all about is him accidentally stealing. I love that scene in tuna. Like, you're paying for advertising. Right.

We should put that in what stage is the worst that you could, when pennies were part of a price of something. Yeah. 31 cents for a candidate. That's gone. I really let that opening scene is so innocent in so many ways. I enjoy the opening scene. We should put that in most rewatchables. American Bar Association has a publication called the ABA Journal, where they rank this film number three on 25, top 25 greatest.

What's one and two, do you know? I didn't see the list. Oh, we got to find that. Fascinating. The director had a lot of greed, and that's why. He was so fanatical about everything. And then that's it. There's one big one else.

What? Which is the Joe Pesci made a lounge music album as many. Yes. Oh, A few years later. Oh, Viguardia Gambini sings for you. Yeah.

Yeah. And they talked sequel for a while and they couldn't mind it up. I actually thought I had memory hold the sequel. I was like, they made a sequel to this, right? Yeah. And I like kept looking it up and there was a novelization. You would have thought it would have been like the cruel intentions two sequel that

wasn't nobody. from Girl Attention's one, isn't it? It's like my cousin, Vinny's cousin, Randy. I'm glad they didn't do it again. Apex Mountain. Pesci. This is the era. It's right around here.

Yeah, I don't know exactly. Can an Apex Mountain be three years long? I mean, him, this movie's succeeding. Probably this might be it. Italians, no. Marissa, yes. Marissa, I would say yes. What is it Apex Mountain for Italians?

Hmm. Interesting. It's in the early 2000s when the surprise. I don't know, he's rising, but Godfather is having this whole nostalgia run. Yeah. That's great for us. You don't think the actual mob?

Like the 50s? Yeah, or maybe dissipating in the murder of JFK. I mean. Killing a president? I wanted to see if you were there. So 63? Yeah, it's not been the same since 63. Yeah.

Machio, no. Mr. told me yes, Bruce McGill now. What is Bruce McGill's Apex Mountain? I don't know. What is it? I mean, my favorite Bruce McGill is the insider. Yeah, I agree. It's somewhere in the 90s.

New Jersey, no, grits, maybe. Grits, 100%. Name me a better grits movie. I don't know. I didn't do the research on grits movies. I mean, there's just best grits movies. What's the first pop-up? True grit. True, great.

So they're taking that literally. Definitely. definitely my cousin. 64 Buick, Skylar, convertibles, yes. I was going to say tire tracks. This is Atex Mountain for tire tracks?

Well, this is... Oh, that's good. I like that. It's Apex Mountain for like automotive intelligence, right? For like mechanical intelligence, right? Old school.

Yeah. Right. Yeah. I mean, it's easy to sort of overlook that. It's the linchpin of the movie, but also I don't recall a film. Even those great driving movies where you are listening to a person actually explained to you what like an axle does.

Automotive history and the actual mechanics of the pieces of the car that make the car work. Best racehorse name. Cousin Vinny? Sure. I would say I would say I wouldn't be putting a lot of money on Cousin Vinny as a horse. To be a cool name. Wazu, Alabama. Wazoo Alabama.

Great. Pickin Nits. Machia was just not scared enough in the first 50. 15 minutes. And I'm not sure if it's because he's not the greatest actor or what's going on. But I'm just being way more scared. It's like I'm in Alabama and I'm being arrested for murder. I'm having a heart attack right now. He also, it's very calm. He's a white guy. This is why if you put Will Smith in the movie, Will Smith is like, right, he's terrified. He's terrified. He's terrified.

We mentioned all the other picket minutes. You have any? Why is there a manual for the hotel faucet in the hotel room? Remember when she's just like, I read the manual about this sink? Oh, I've got one. And it's just like, there's that a common thing in the 90s where it's like, if you have any needs, you can fix the appliances yourself, the manuals. Yeah, that's all right.

But I think it's to, I mean, again, there's so many things in this script. I know it's supposed to be her technical expertise. No. Yeah. Well, yes. But there's, so my mind along the same lines is we,

we are at some point, we understand because Vinny explains to stand this moment from their childhood where he saw Vinny, he's just got a great bullshit detector and he just knows when people are lying. He can call out magic tricks and he can tell magic tricks

and he can bust your magic trick open if you're a magician. So a scene after that there's, it's is it the cash the Wada Cash sequences. The only reason that Wad of Cash sequence is there

is so that we can see the proof of what Machio is telling which is he never loses an argument. He never loses an argument and he can call bullshit shit on it and the other person being being called out will just fold. It seems does not need to be there. Otherwise.

Sequel prequel prestige TV, all black cast are untouchable. What would you do? I mean, I think all black cast would be amazing, but I just, it's hard to imagine anybody else doing this, but Peschi. I think it's untouchable because of the two actors. My cousin Vincent, like, my cousin Ben. Yeah. Kevin Hart.

Oh. As the lawyer. Right. Kevin Hart comes down. I mean, I can see an all-black cast version. Come on. Kevin Hart would never remake an iconic movie. But yeah, I don't, this is perfect the way it is.

Just leave it. Just leave it. Is this movie better with Wayne Jenkins, Danny Trao, Catherine Hahn, Steve Buscemi, Sam Jackson, J.T. Walsher, Philip Baker Hall. I think in 1992, you probably still could have just cast Sam Jackson as the cook. Right?

Oh. You know, you could have just, this movie could have gone into production. You could. Between Goodfellas and Jungle Fever. You could do that. Or Wayne Jenkins could say, God damn, Mona Lisa! I didn't know I was dating Toto Wolf! You're talking about pos attraction.

wasn't for you. Stan and Bill will be going away a long fucking time before. I think Wesley forgot you were going to do that. It made even better. He had like the preamble. That made it totally worth it. I didn't really have one for this time,

but then you set it up so well. Oh, my God. I have a question for this category. Should we shoehorn Joe Pesci into it? Oh, if Joe Pesci would make the movie better? Just should he be there with Treyo? and Han and Breschemy and St. Jackson, Jitou Walsh. We haven't really given those people

a lot of their due over the last couple of months because of Wayne. Yeah, Wayne's kind of overpowered everybody. But I'd like to go back and put Peschi in a bunch of movies now. Yeah, I'm going to add him for the next one. Just one Oscar who gets it. Tomey got it. Probably in answerable questions. Did Vinnie and Lisa stay together?

Yes. 100% yes. There's that great... Yes? C.R. is a little less sold. I don't... love a movie that ends with a shot of anybody doing anything in a car. I just don't

want to, I hate those endings. I feel like they're just like a lazy screenwriting. What's like another example of that? Goodwill hunting. You're watching people just, you're watching a car drive somewhere. Right. I hate it. Thelma and Louise, technically. Is that how Rain Man ends? Yes. Yeah. Wait, I don't know.

Is it? It feels like it should. Yeah. Wesley just, no, it, Rain Man ended with a train. So you just don't like people driving away to I don't like... Was it just shit on the Goodwill hunting ending? It's unbelievable. I don't like the shot. I don't mind the actual ending. But the last thing here's seen...

Now you're shitting on the Goodwill hunting ending? If a car is driving away, I don't want to see it. But in this movie, it's a car driving away, but there's like something beautiful happening in the car. It feels like they just wanted to wrap it up. Yeah. They're like, oh, shit. We're at two hours. They confirm that they're going to get married.

There's some great banter between the two of them. So you wanted, like, a wedding scene. No, I didn't want to. that. I love this ending. This is the ending. I don't want a wedding. Because I like the ambiguity. Right. Maybe Chris is, I don't know if you're saying they won't stay together, but. I just think that, like,

I mean, I don't know if a lot of the lessons he's learned from this story translate to the Brooklyn court system. You know? I don't know. Maybe it does, though. There's a couple of other things I'd like to address. One is, it's half picking it half

possibly minutes per question, but they just have a capital punishment protest happening at the prison. Yeah, what was up with that? It's like a deleted scene. It's weird because there's a protest, but there's also this really flip it, like, yeah, sometimes we have to electrocute guys three times

and then their heads catch on fire. It's like, so it's halfway, the death penalty is a joke, half they're protesting it. And the other is, is there no media whatsoever? Yeah. In this, in like this region.

Because this is the real, this is the real. See, this is getting real. Yeah. Yeah. Like, this is a thing that is happening, like, away from the eye of the press. Right. And this very conceivable that if Benny had not shown up. But conceivably, one journalist could be like, how did you guys arrest these people?

But that person's not written. What was the name of this town? Wazoo. He said the Wazoo Gazette. But even like a Tuscaloosa paper may send a stringer out. What's going on with those two? What was the other one you had? Oh, just like what the hell else is happening in the town besides the trial?

Because it just seems like four businesses would be closed because they were like, I'm going to the trial. What do you have for Best Double Feature Choice with this movie? Did you have one? Something Pesci related, right? I was going to say Goodfellas to this is pretty great. It's just a great five hours. And you just get the full Peshoe experience.

This movie is too close to the length of Goodfellas for its own country. Yeah, that's true. The other one I was thinking was that movie he made with Roddy Dangerfield. What was that movie? Pashi? Yeah. It's in the mid-200, mid-1980s. I would actually just,

just because I love the movie and also she's great in it as I would throw the paper on. Yeah, I think this is a good. This is that era. The paper is a good one. I like that. Easy money.

Oh, yeah. Okay. It's funny that you didn't quite work. I don't remember. Rodney's first for a post-cadishack. Yeah, I don't remember Pesci in that movie. Andy and Red Zawantene Award, what happened the next day?

We just covered that. No, I got one for this. So obviously, Bill and Stan, they're at NYU, and now they're going out to UCLA on scholarship. So I figured. You're a C even. UCLA. Oh, is the UCLA?

But I figure they're in film school. Yes. So are these guys the Cohen brothers? Like, what movie? And do they make a movie out of this experience? And if they do, is it like a horror movie? Like, what's the film they're making out of this? It's basically Texas Chainsaw Mask.

with the legal system? I'm going to say they weren't very good writers. Those two morons. Yeah, Bill and Stan suck. I don't know. I kind of like you. You know, they're like Loll and Babaloo. They're like dialed up.

Oh, it could be. I wouldn't put, I actually like that comparison. What memorabilia would you want from this movie? You could have any piece. Well, Wesley pointed out the U-ings. Those would probably be a nice. The U-S. That's good.

I like that. I was thinking. Pesci's wig was a bit. Ah, you took mine. Or a plate of grits. Just wear it around. Yeah. Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson.

I'm going to say, no self-respecting Southerner uses instant grits. Yes. And everybody responds. The thing I love about this movie is, I mean, I'm just going to go back to the jury stuff. Like the gasps, like the audible gasps in the courtroom. That's a thing that you love to hear in one of these movies. Yes. There's some applause.

part. Yeah. We never talked about that. There's jury selection this. We talked in a time to kill about how much we like jury selection. Oh, it's great. You know I was watching the other day that had a great jury selection scene as a suspect. Oh, yeah.

And because the whole thing is Quaid is in the jury. Sharon and, uh, Dennis Quay. Yeah. Does it upset you that the juror didn't work as a movie with Demi Moore, kind of at her inner peak Baldwin? But it's so. It's such a bad. It's tough.

I mean, it's just like a bad... Didn't work. Nothing worked. I still feel like nobody's crack. I have to go back to runaway jury. I haven't watched it in a long time. It's not bad. That's Qzac, right?

Yeah. Hold up. I mean, I watched it maybe, well, it's been 10 years, but like, I have watched it since it came out. Who won the movie? I think Tomé did. Tomé. Mercer Tomé. Okay.

I do, too. Because if you put, just think about the pile of other people you could have put in that part, and it wouldn't have worked. this is a person who has complete command over this part from the beginning to end. My Twitter notifications are going crazy because some guys got 56 points in the third quarter. You know what I mean?

Like you have to turn this on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, and I just am trying to go back to that moment for everybody who saw this movie and did not know that that. The thing she wins the Oscar for is the shock of how, I feel like I'm going to cry

just thinking about how amazing just like you mentioning just turning the sound off and watching that sequence. Just watching their bodies. It's just I just can't think of a moment in a movie where somebody comes out of nowhere

is that good with a person you know in a movie that does not matter. It's cool. It's just a primal fear and that's like another. But that's another one of the other Like, there's not that many. There's not that many, like, first big shot, and this is what you get. Shannon Tweet and Hot Dog the movie. Tresher.

Tresher. Yeah, but I just feel like Marissa Tomei in this movie is just one of the great welcome, welcome to American popular. So we're letting her to keep the Oscar for this. Oh, my God. I've always felt that way. Okay. I didn't know if you were going to be like plow right. It was robbed.

Yeah, I know. you got to watch Plowray. I've seen Widow's peak about 75 times because it was at the Ritz of the Bourse all summer of 1992. I'm sure my dad kept that one propped up the entire time in that movie. If Roxy had been nominated, though,

I think it's more of an argument. The dance force scene. You know, would have been a killer Roxy, Marissa Tomey. Oh, wow. Oh, my God. How tall do you think Brisa Tomey? It's not tall, right?

No, she's like maybe my height. Like 5, 5, 4? My height, I'd say. You know, where she was. also really good. Speaking to Roxy is opposite to Raji P. Henson on Empire. Do you remember that story? Oh, yeah. She was like the crazy, over-sexed music

executive who wanted to get with Taraji. And Taraji was like, I'm down. She's great. Do you think, can I ask you one last question? Yeah. After doing this one, we don't have another comedy in courtroom thrillers or courtroom month. Do we? Or do we? Or do we? Oh, that's right, because

you put it to democracy. Yeah. That's right. And it's winning, right? It seems like it's winning. But do you, like, if given your druthers, like, do you like courtroom comedies? I like when it gets dark in the courtroom. That's my preference as well. Yeah. I don't know.

I feel like one of the greatest, okay, I think Legally Blonde is one of the funniest movies. I just watched this with my daughter and my wife a week ago, and we were saying the same thing. The trial scenes in that movie, even though it's high. Like, it hinges on somebody being outed. For a perm. For a perm. It's still so ridiculous. But it's like a Paul Rudnick style, like use of homosexuality, right?

It doesn't feel homophobic to me. Right. I just think that that trial stuff is so funny. And again, it's a sports movie, right? A person who should not be practicing a law in this way out of the gate, winning the case. Right. The movie's great. I just think, I think legal comedies when they work, there aren't that many of them,

but when they do work, like, May, there's a, there's a, I think she'd done them wrong, or, or I'm no angel, on the Angel, the May West movie. Right. Has a very long, she's on trial for basically sex, essentially. Yeah. Carrie Grant is, I think she's suing, Carrie Grant is suing her, basically, for not marrying him. I'm getting a little bit of this wrong, but at some point, she's on the stand. and they call her maid up to the stand to testify

up against her for who's been in and out of the house. And I think at some point she cross-examines her own maid and it's just, it's kind of depressing for the racial reasons. But as comedy, it's really funny based on like what the maid is sort of forced to say about May West in the courtroom. It's just when you can find a way to be funny about the law, I don't know. It's hard to do, but if you can do it,

I still need a, did you order the code right? You know what I mean? Like, that's still the spice for me. But Legally Blonde is giving you basically. Like, you know what I mean?

The comedy can still give you that. Sure. Like the grit scene is essentially that. Yes. Were you guys watching live when OJ tried the gloves on and they didn't fit? I did see that. It was incredible. And he was making that he was doing this thing?

Yeah. I was kind of looking around. I was like, oh, my God. This is, I mean, but again, I think one of the reasons we do not have these movies anymore in some way is that somehow real life has superseded our capacity to imagine. Yeah, you're right. I mean, we just can't do it. All right. This podcast was produced by Jesse Lopez.

Craig Horlebecks away. He's betrothed. Betrothed? Petroth. I think so. Petroved. Or betroth. We can.

with Petroth. Betroth. And he's betroth. Something terrible happens. Betroth is what happens between you and Fran Dresher. Fran, I got your back. Betroth is a John Grishabody.

I think C.R.'s replies are going to be loaded with Fran Dresher stuff. You think so? Yeah, I do. I think there's a lot of us out there. Mostly it's going to be happening on threads, though, right?

Listen, you all laugh now. Freds. Wesley, thanks for joining us. This was Courtroom Month. We'll see you next time. You know,