You think Jackie is funny?

FIND ME GUILTY (2006)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

For 21 months in the late 1980's, the government persecuted 20 members of the Lucchese crime family of New Jersey on over 70 criminal conspiracy counts. This actual trial has been known as the longest criminal trial in history. A clownish, seemingly honest mobster represents himself as his own attorney and turns the court into a circus. Sounds like it could be decent subject matter for a movie. Only director Sidney Lumet has converted this fascinating trial into a listless, lifeless mess of a movie.

Vin Diesel is the wisecracking mobster, Giacomo "Jackie Dee" DiNorscio, who in the opening scene of the movie, is nearly left for dead after he's shot by his cousin. Then, an impending trial hangs on him - the prosecutor tells Jack he can rat on everyone or get a 30- year-plus sentence. Jack maintains a loyalty to his crew, even to the disapproving mob boss, Nick Calebrese (Alex Rocco) who, for reasons never explained, hates Jack. What is there to hate? Jack is flamboyant, energetic and throws one-liners and get applause from the jury. The presiding judge (Ron Silver) objects and holds him in contempt of court more often than Joe Pesci did in "My Cousin Vinny." But Jackie also loves everybody, even the cousin who betrays him and runs to the feds. I think Jackie might've been out of place in the world of "GoodFellas," but what do I know.

If "Find Me Guilty" had the audacity to poke fun at this relentless trial that makes a mockery of justice, then it might have been a winner. Instead Lumet and his co-writers T.J. Mancini, and Robert J. McCrea play it too straight and narrow - they don't see or acknowledge the humor. This should not be an episode of "Law and Order" - it should be the "Network" of courtroom dramas. It should focus on the ridiculous stature of our legal system. After all, the film seems to say that even if you are a murderer and a drug abuser in the mob, as long as you act like Jay Leno in court, you might have a chance to beat the system and win over a jury. Since that is the theme of this movie, why do the filmmakers exhibit a monotonous level of energy throughout?

Vin Diesel seems like such a clown as Jackie that, had the film been wittier and more pungent, he might have not been miscast. Considering the serious-mindedness of it, he is miscast though he tries to breathe some life into it. I did like the underused Alex Rocco and the magnetic casting of Peter Dinklage as one of the defense attorneys. Also worth noting is the cameo by Annabella Sciorra as Jackie's ex- wife who is stunned Jackie can't attend his mother's funeral. But "Find Me Guilty" lacks energy, focus and punch. Its best passages are narrowed by truly extended, overlong, dull courtroom setpieces that don't amount to much except an outrageous verdict. If only the film had been as outrageous.