I don’t know what you folks are smoking, but My Cousin Vinnie was hilarious. Do people not think that comedies are “real” movies? It’s one of those movies that gets played on t.v. all the time, and that I find myself watching all the way through, over and over. I agree that Fred Gwynne makes the movie. One of my favorite lines (I don’t remember the exact wording): “The next time you’re in this courtroom, I expect you to be wearing a suit - and it better be made of some sort of…cloth.”
And Marisa Tomei takes the simplest lines and makes them memorable, like when Vinnie chastises her for sticking out, and she sarcastically retorts: “Oh, you blend.” Not a particularly memorable line, but the way she delivers it is priceless.
The first one in the last decade I can remember is The Usual Suspects. It was more original, more entertaining, and a better movie than any of those nominated for Best Picture that year, imho - I can’t imagine why it didn’t win, and worse, why it wasn’t even nominated.
And I hope nobody tries to give me any cinematic analysis saying why I’m so incredibly wrong - if movies like Shakespeare in Love and American Beauty and The Full Monty can be nominated for and/or win Best Picture…well, it’s obvious there are a ton of movies that have been passed over in favor of inferior ones (and we could have a whole debate on those, of course), but The Usual Suspects definitely deserves to be on the list of said movies.
What committee? Nominations for the acting categories are made by fellow actors, e.g., nominees for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress are made by the actress members of the Academy.
Plurality rules, too. We don’t know if Tomei (or any other person) won her Oscar by a majority or just a plurality of votes; the vote totals are not released.
What a lot of people mistakenly call “technical” categories are actually artistic categories. Individual movies are not nominated for technical awards, and the technical awards are not given at the televised awards ceremony, but at an earlier ceremony. Categories like cinematography, editing, special effects, sound, and sound editing are artistic awards, not technical awards. Technical awards are given for things like equipment (e.g., the Steadicam) and processes (e.g., Dolby noise reduction).
Oooh, thanks for the clarification. He did work in sound editing, I was trying to convey that he wasn’t a performer. If memory serves, he would only participate in the balloting for categories in his field, and then there were a few categories that were more of a free for all.
No, it isn’t. I haven’t seen the movie, either, but the fact was revealed in all the reviews of it, and plot logic insists that she discovers it before the end of the movie.
People are ignoring the most obvious reason: My Cousin Vinnie was the most successful of the five films who had nominees ($52M+ as opposed to $25M for Howard’s End, the most successful of the others). More voters were more likely to have seen it than any of the other films (even with the videotapes being passed around to the academy). So there were many voters who saw Tomei and none of the rest, and would have voted for her. Often, that sort of voter might choose a well-known actress and vote for her with a nod to her career (e.g., Judi Dench), but Joan Plowright was never a big Hollywood name (she was a big name in the UK, of course) and Vanessa Redgrave wasn’t going to win because of her politics (dancing with the Palestinians, remember?)
If you were talking about the general population, I’d agree with you. But we are talking about 6000 Academy members, so the likelihood that they didn’t see Howards End (which won 3 Oscars and got a Pic nod) is extremely low, though I will agree with you on Damage & Enchanted April.
You’re right about Redgrave, though. For my money, Judy Davis just blew the others out of the water, but it was a difficult movie to like and an often painful performance, whilst Vinny is fun and Tomei is cute and spunky and has some terrific scenes (and though I think the only-American vote can be a bit glib, I think there can be some truth to it).
It’s interesting that people often complain that comedies get ignored by the Academy, but when a comedic performance wins, it’s often the “wrong” comedic performance (Judy Holliday’s win over Gloria Swanson & Bette Davis in 1950 is another good example). Tomei was helped in that she was clearly the best thing in the movie, and you’re often more of a standout if you are the best thing in an OK film as opposed to one of the many terrific things in a terrific film.
Personally, I like her and the film and, though she wouldn’t have gotten my vote, I don’t think it was a bad performance (something which the Academy does have a track record of recognizing). The Bedroom nod she got went a long way to restoring some of her cred, though I think the fact that she has suffered because, though she’s kept herself busy in Hollywood, she never developed a stellar “career” many people associate with an Oscar-winner. In short, it was a great milestone without being a real turning point, and the fact that it was for something as “fluffy” as a cute comedy makes it open season for some undeserved derision.
Joan Plowright might not have been a big Hollywood name, but neither were Beatrice Straight, Marcia Gay Harden, Juliette Binoche (in 1997), Anna Paquin, Mia Sorvino, or Mercedes Ruehl.
I completely agree with this. As a lawyer-type, too, I have to say that My Cousin Vinny gets a lot of legal details right that many more “weighty” films don’t even bother with. It was a well-made film all around.
Speaking as an actor myself, I’d like to emphasize that comedy is much, much harder than drama. Getting angry or sad is easy. Getting angry or sad and still managing the technical execution that makes the material funny to an outside eye is extremely difficult. And if you look at Tomei’s performance, in which the script required her to be short-tempered and abrasive and bitchy and demanding and all sorts of other negative qualities, it really is a testament to the quality of her work that the character turned out to be funny instead of irritating. The success of that film can largely be credited to her, I think.
So Tomei’s win surprised me, but on brief reflection, I decided it was a nice and not undeserved departure for the Academy. I thought the same thing when Kevin Kline won best supporting for Otto in A Fish Called Wanda. Comedy really, really, really doesn’t get the credit it deserves when the end-of-year accolades are handed out. I’m pleased, further, that there appears to be some evolution in attitudes of late (note Johnny Depp’s nomination for Pirates of the Caribbean, which was deserved where a win may or may not have been), but we still have a ways to go.
Even if the Academy feels it can overlook Peter (Troy) O’Toole because it gave him an honorary lifetime achievement award rwecently, my theory still holdfs up. Morgan Freeman is another aging, veteran, highly respected actor who’se never won an award, and he’ll almost surely be nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his work in “Million Dollar Baby.” If so, he’s liable to win the latest “Oops” award.
(More “give an award to an old guy who’s never won before” examples: John Gielgud, Sean Connery, Martin Landau & John Houseman).
They didn’t give him the award last year. They planned to, and in typical O’Toole fashion, he said (paraphrasing) “No thank you, I still plan to earn one on my own.” And his performance in Troy will surely do that - Mr. singular & I turned to each other at the end of his scene as Prious with Achilles, asking for his son’s body, and said “there’s his Oscar!”
Extremely deserved and way overdue.
He did initially turn it down, but eventually relented and showed up to accept it. Here are some pictures of the event. Great actor. Lawrence is one of my favorite movies of all time. Troy on the other hand… well, let’s just be kind and say it’s not one of my favorites of all time.
It’s not one of O’Toole’s favorites either. He’s been very vocal about how little he thinks of the film, and that, his Honorary Oscar, and the underwhelming reception of a film (“Hey, at least it’s better than Alexander!”) that was released seemingly ages ago all doom O’Toole’s chances. He hasn’t gotten a single critic’s award nor a nomination from the BAFTA’s, the Globes, the SAG, etc. It will be a startling upset if the gets a nomination.
Well, hell. That sucks - I personally liked Troy (don’t hurt me), and I thought his speech was beautifully done. But you’re right, there hasn’t been a peep about it anywhere, so it probably won’t happen. Kinda makes me wish he would’ve stuck to his guns. If he hadn’t gotten the Honorary, he’d be a shoo-in for the Obligatory.