Everyone loves My Cousin Vinny, the 1992 courtroom comedy that won Marisa Tomei her Oscar and unleashed Joe Pesci’s Brooklynese upon the deep South. But some enjoy it more than others. Take Rudy Giuliani, personal attorney to outgoing president Donald Trump and the chief figure in his still ongoing attempts to claim, without evidence, widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. During his latest spluttering press conference on Thursday, the former mayor of New York City said a number of alarming and/or surreal things. Among those was a random and lengthy treatise on the greatness of My Cousin Vinny.
Mere hours after the incident, one of the chief architects of the film has responded. Reached by The Hollywood Reporter for comment, director Jonathan Lynn had a witty retort: “I regard Giuliani’s praise of My Cousin Vinny as generous from the man who is currently giving the Comedy Performance of the Year.” (On top of directing that film, as well as Clue, he was also the co-creator of the classic British comedies Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, so he’s no stranger to finding the ridiculousness in politics.)
Giuliani’s presser didn’t reach the cosmically weird levels of the instantly notorious Four Seasons Total Landscaping debacle, but not for lack of trying. On top of his George Costanza-esque fulminating on My Cousin Vinny, he also sweated so bad that black goo — his hair dye, one hopes — started running down the side of his face. All in all, a very Mad Libs-y time we’re living in. And, it seems, it’s still far from over.
(Via THR)