james gillham

I think I have only seen this film once before, but I enjoyed this film more than I thought I might, mainly I must say, because of the performance of Marisa Tomei. She deserved the Oscar for her performance. She is thoroughly delightful and very sexy in this role alongside Joe Pesci and the chemistry and electricity between them is almost palpable. I laughed out loud when she rebuked Joe for wanting to shoot a deer and her comeback about what trousers he should wear on the hunt was a classic! Fred Gwynne surprised me with his performance as the stern, authoritative judge, but enjoyed the way he warmed to Pesci's eccentric lawyer as the case progressed. (I still remember him as Herman from 'The Munsters' as a kid). There are many small highlights all through this film, though overall it is a little slow and predictable and the defendants are almost forgettable, only Tomei makes this film the classic it deserves to be though Pesci should be proud of his performance, probably his best in my view. 7.5 out of 10 and will look forward to seeing it again!