My Cousin Vinny/Awesome

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Lisa mixes this with Crowning Moment of Funny and Precision F-Strike when she presents the deer scenario to Vinny, using the shock value to put him in his place for worrying about his appearance.
  • Vinnie's final stemwinder of a speech: "Were these magic grits?"
    • "I'm sorry, I was all the way over there. Did you just say '[you're] a fast cook', that's it? Do the laws of physics cease to exist on your stove?!"
    • Really, the whole setup and payoff is an extended CMOA. Earlier in the film, we saw Vinny interview each of the 3 eyewitnesses who claimed to identity the defendants leaving the store after the clerk was murdered. Each time, we only hear one question. Each time, it's a stupid sounding, seemingly irrelevant question. ("What did you have for breakfast?" "What's that stuff on your window?" "When did you last have those glasses perscribed?") When it comes time for their day in court, Vinny starts off each cross examination with the same "stupid" question we saw him ask earlier...and each time it leads to a brilliant demolishing of the credibility of each eyewitness.
  • The entire time that Lisa is up at the stand, providing witness testimony. She and Vinny solve the entire case, just by looking a picture, and it's her expert testimony that convinces the prosecution that the defendants are innocent.
    • Well, that and the reveal that what are most likely the real killers had just been arrested by another police department. Still doesn't detract from the awesomeness though, especially when Lisa effortlessly sees through the Prosecution's trick automotive question.