According to lawyers, there’s one film that consistently ranks among the top law-themed films of all time. It’s not hard to see why, when you have a rare narrative that portrays the lawyer as himself being the embattled underdog, who manages to overcome adversity and become the noble problem-solver and advocate for justice he was (maybe, on a good day) destined to be. This weekend’s movie recommendation is My Cousin Vinny.
Bill Gambini and Stan Rothenstein are two New York kids taking a road trip through Alabama before they begin classes at college. When their car is pulled over, they fear the worst: they believe they’re about to be hauled back to the precinct for the careless error of having unintentionally stolen a can of tuna from the local gas station. They know that justice in Alabama takes a different tenor than what they’re familiar with, so they brace themselves for trouble when their fears are realized.
But things start going really pear-shaped when they learn that they’re being booked for murder one instead of petty larceny. Just moments after pulling out of the gas station, Bill and Stan protest, others driving a similar car must have approached and committed the crime for which our tender protagonists stand accused.
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