Review by Gary Tooze

 

Production:

Theatrical: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Video: 20th Century Fox

 

Disc:

Region: FREE! (as verified by the Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player)

Runtime: 1:59:18.568

Disc Size: 22,811,022,199 bytes

Feature Size: 22,349,475,840 bytes

Video Bitrate: 18.99 Mbps

Chapters: 24

Case: Standard Blu-ray case

Release date: August 4th, 2009

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Resolution: 1080p

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Audio:

DTS-HD Master Audio English 3540 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3540 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps / Dolby Surround
Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio French 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps / Dolby Surround
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps

 

Subtitles:

English, English (SDH), French, Spanish, none

 

Extras:

• Commentary by director Jonathan Lynn

• Original Theatrical trailers + TV Spot

 

Bitrate:

 

 

Description: Two carefree pals (Ralph Macchio and Mitchell Whitfield) traveling through Alabama are mistakenly arrested, and charged with murder. Fortunately, one of them has a cousin who's a lawyer - Vincent Gambini (Joe Pesci, Lethal Weapon 3, Home Alone), a former auto mechanic from Brooklyn who just passed his bar exam after his sixth try. Vinny's never been in court - or in Alabama - and when he arrives with his leather-clad girlfriend (Marisa Tomei in her Oscar® winning Supporting Actress performance), to try his first case, it's a real shock - for him and the Deep South!

 

 

The Film:

Pesci plays Vincent La Guardia Gambini, proud Brooklyn attorney-at-law, who gets called South to Wahzoo City to defend his college-kid cousin (Macchio) and pal (Whitfield), falsely accused of a convenience store murder. Trouble is, Vinny ain't no expert on criminal law, having just completed his bar exams. Still, the majesty of the law doesn't over-impress this self-made guy; but then his shades, white shoes and total ignorance of procedure don't exactly impress by-the-book Judge Haller (Gwynne). Vinny fears he's gonna get found out, the kids fear they're gonna fry. Pesci's variation on New Jersey machismo (vulnerable in this case) isn't enough to fill a comedy; but Dale Launer's script luckily provides some fine routines for the supporting cast, notably the scene-stealing Marisa Tomei as Mona Lisa Vito, Pesci's sharp-tongued girlfriend. It's a small, surprisingly gentle affair, prone to fits and starts, but fun.

Excerpt from TimeOut Film Guide located HERE

This is the MRQE Metric score and graph for this film. The graph works on a five-point scale, from A – F. The MRQE Metric is the weighted average of a full breakdown of critical grades.

 

 

Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were ripped directly from the Blu-ray disc.
 

The image on My Cousin Vinny on Blu-ray isn't overwhelming in any of the usual visual facets that we find remarkable with 1080P.  While it's certainly superior to SD - the image has a texture that inhibits it from achieving any high standard of detail. It's not so much that the single-layered transfer is ineffectual (although the video bitrate is at the lower end at 18.99 Mbps) - it's more that the 1992 film wasn't shot with immaculate care for the appearance beyond the acceptable - after all it's a comedy - and a good one. On the positive - it's fairly smooth in motion, blemish-free, and exhibits some, infrequent, depth. Nothing is exceptional visually-speaking - but it does look consistent throughout. I can't see anyone bothering with digital manipulations and I doubt dual-layering would have produced a vastly superior presentation. This probably isn't too far from how it looked theatrically - and that's fine, just not stellar.

 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio :

The DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 3540 kbps is more than capable of handling this fairly docile soundtrack. The instances of factory whistles, loudly grunting pigs and forest animals that inhibit Vincent and Mona Lisa's sleep seem abnormally loud and caused me to turn down the volume - returning it to normal position for the ensuing dialogue - which is clean and consistent. There are English, French and Spanish optional subtitle choices and my Momitsu's identifies this disc as being region FREE capable of being played worldwide on Blu-ray players.

 

 

 

Extras :

Nothing new with the same supplements from the last DVD edition. Director Lynn's commentary is pretty good but there are gaps where he lets the film run. He seems like an intelligent chap and I liked what he had to say although some may find him dry. There are also two trailers and two TV Spots in SD... but that is all.

 

BOTTOM LINE:
I was really in the mood for this film and enjoyed watching it twice consecutively. I didn't own any past DVD edition of it to compare but suspect the Blu-ray is notably superior. This is a very amusing comedy, bordering on brilliant, and the two leads work so very well together although who'd believe a gal who looks like Tomei would get engaged to a guy like Pesci. Anyway, My Cousin Vinny is a lot of fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it after seeing it more than 15 years ago. The Blu-ray is, obviously, not demo material, there is nothing new extra-wise plus I think the price is a bit high but.... I'd still like to recommend - especially to those who haven't yet seen it. Ohhh... I meant to mention somewhere about watching this around young children the 'F'-word is used gratuitously!  

Gary Tooze

July 24th, 2009