This movie was pretty enjoyable, though it took a very serious court case and made it a laughing matter, so I wasn’t sure to find it funny, serious, or sad. That was probably my biggest problem with it. If I categorized it as a comedy, it had it’s moments, but wasn’t that funny. If I categorize it as a drama, the tone wasn’t serious enough. If I categorize it as tragedy, well, once again, not serious enough. It tried to put way too many elements into one movie, though like I said, I still found it enjoyable.
Official Site
IMDb: 7.2/10 (643 votes)
Yahoo! Movies: The Critics: C+ / Yahoo! Users: B-
Rotten Tomatoes: Rating: 56% / Average Rating: 5.9/10
Apple Trailer
Amazon.com DVD
Spoilers: (Show)
Vin Diesel actually did his part quite well, though the part itself was the problem. Story’s about the State of New Jersey trying to bring in 47 members of an Italian mob, using the RICO Act. The trial almost takes two years to complete with 47 defendents, 70 something witnesses and over 130 exhibits. Vin Diesel didn’t like his previous lawyer, so he decided to defend himself, making the courtroom more like a stand up comedy.
That’s basically the jist of the movie, but like I said earlier, some of the punch lines were hilarious. He was a fun loving guy and didn’t feel even a bit of anger after his own cousin shot him 4x. However, not everyone that was part of this ‘family’ was as loving as he was. He ended the trial by giving his closing statement saying if they wanted to find someone guilty, find him (me) guilty and spare the rest of his friends, since he was already serving a 30 year prison term.
