MY COUSIN WHINY

MY COUSIN VINNY (1992)
dir: Jonathan Lynn

MY COUSIN WHINY
Cracked #274, December 1992
w: Vic Bianco (Lou Silverstone)
a: Walter Brogan

Bill Gambini (Ralph Macchio) and his friend Stan (Mitchell Winfield) are in Alabama, accidentally shoplift, and later the owner of the store is murdered, which they get arrested for.

Bill phones his mother to tell her they're in prison and she tells him their cousin Vinny (Joe Pesci) is a lawyer who can get them out of trouble. He comes down to Alabama with his girlfriend Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei). On the way there their Buick gets stuck in the mud. Vinny is just out of law school after several attempts at passing the bar exam and has never tried a case, promising to only marry Mona Lisa after he wins his first one. She's an amateur photographer.

While Vinny tries the case, it's goomba versus bubba. Judge Haller (Fred Gwynne) gets fed up with witnesses who don't know what they're talking about. Lisa doesn't like being there and hopes Vinny will win because she wants to be married as soon as possible.

This was the part with the “two yoots” scene, probably the only part of the movie anyone remembers.

The next day of the hearing, witness after witness is brought forth, none of whom can prove Bill's innocence.

On the last day of the trial, Lisa is reluctantly brought forth as a witness, since one of her photos shows the ground with the tire tracks where the murderer made his getaway. She also comes from a family that worked in a garage and uses her expertise in cars to prove it wouldn't be possible for Bill's car to have made these tracks. With this knowledge, Bill and Stan are exonerated, Vinny wins the case, and he and Lisa can go back to New York to get married.

She is called “Corleone” to reference the family in The Godfather