My Cousin Vinny Review

Gang, all you have to do is listen to Ep 29 of TNB Commentaries to know that around these here parts we fuckin’ LOVE My Cousin Vinny.
Much like Johnathan Lynn’s other masterpiece, Clue, the dialogue is so snappy, it’s dead on balls hilarious, and the legal gymnastics are solidly plotted.

But a novelization of it, especially written years later?
That seems too Herculean a task to belly up too, I know I sure as shit wouldn’t wanna take on that challenge.
Larry Kelter had the fortitude to take a run at it, and he should be applauded for that alone.

But how well did it go?
The time has come to find out, my dear Knights Of Nerd Blitz-Dom, so gather round and let’s find out together.

This is your official, 30 odd year (at least for the movie) ***SPOILER ALERT***, gang.

At that point we should all know the story, but just incase you’ve been living under a rock: Two dudes, Bill & Stan are road tripping across the country toward their school.
They stop at a convenience store for some cheap chow, then hit the road only to realize they’ve accidentally stolen a can of tuna.
Soon a cop car is hot on their tails and they’re arrested for murder and thrown in the slammer.
They make their phone calls and Bill Gambini’s mother calls in the only lawyer they know, Cousin Vinny.
This kicks off one hell of a fish out of water tale that has long proven to be a cinematic classic.

Kelter serves up almost all of the scenes from the flick, sans the witness interviews Vinny does in their homes, and adds a couple scenes at the top and throughout that feel like they were always there.
He does a faithful job adapting this iconic movie, though it feels almost too faithful at times.
I wish he would/could have given us just a couple more new scenes to make this book really have it’s own flavor a bit more and feel a bit fresher.
But, having said that, he successfully makes it feel like the movie we all know and love.
You can 100% see Macchio, Whitfield, Pesci, Tomei, and the rest of the cast as you read.

In no way does this feel like somebody twisting a near perfect movie and making it into something unrecognizable just to attach their name to something well known and get a little of the shine.
Kelter seems to have a damn good grasp on the characters and their voices.
I will be damn curious to see if the other books in the series feel the same way because this feels so right and I would hate to think this was a fluke.

And at the end of the day, that’s what this book does better than anything else, it makes me interested and excited to read the other three stories that Lawrence Kelter has written with these characters.
We’ve heard rumors for years that they’ve tried to get a sequel movie off the ground, but for various reasons it just hasn’t materialized.
And, at this point, I think the time for that has come and gone, so these stories are the next best thing.

I must admit though that I am curious what took so long for sometuing like this to happen?
I’m planning to reach out to Mr. Kelter to try and get more insight into this whole process, and his involvement in this project because, even moreso than the actual books, I find that damn fascinating.

As you can tell, gang, overall, I have no real issues here.
Mainly just a slew of production questions.
Kelter has the characters down pat and this adaptation is dead on balls accurate (don’t worry, it’s a technical industry term) and gets me hyped up to dive into the continuing adventures of Mr. Vincent Gambini & Miss Mona Lisa Vito.
I highly recommend you get the mud out of your tires and, at the very least, check out this entry in the series.

Special thanks to @ACFerrell1976 for her continued editorial assistance.

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