Revealing mistake: The film is supposed to be in Alabama, but it was actually shot in Georgia. You can see this when Vinny and Mona are first pulling into the town and they are turning left, in the shot you can see the Georgia State Highway road signs off in the distance. (00:13:20)
Continuity mistake: When Vinnie is sentenced to contempt of court for the first time, the camera focuses on Vinnie saying, "I think I get the point." In the foreground, you see Judge Haller's head from behind with two fingers supporting his right cheek. In the next shot, Haller replies, "No! I don't think you do," showing Haller's face straight on but with no fingers supporting his cheek. (00:32:13)
Continuity mistake: At the scene where Vinny and Mona are at a picnic, they take their platters and have plastic silverware wrapped in a napkin. When they go to sit at the picnic table, Vinny places the wrapped silverware next to his plate, then picks them up to eat, but in the following shot, he does the same thing again. (00:35:50)
Continuity mistake: When Vinny and Lisa wake up in their car and are stuck in the mud, Vinny gets out and slips. As he falls, a large splat of mud hits the side of his head and sticks. When the camera changes we see Vinny trying to get up, but the mud splat is gone. (01:09:15)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Vinny's car is stuck in the mud, he gets out and slips in the mud. When he falls, they show him land behind the door, In the next camera shot, his body has moved closer to the front of the car and his head is now in front of the door in the mud. (01:10:31)
Continuity mistake: The scene filmed in 'Daves Bar-B-Q' is across the street from a bank that has an outdoor sign indicating time and temperature visible through the restaurant window behind Vinny. When the meal begins, the time is in the 12:00 o'clock hour. Seconds later when the clock is visible again the time is in the 4:00 o'clock hour. The judge only permitted a 60 minute recess. (01:34:20 - 01:36:00)
Continuity mistake: In the scene towards the end of the movie after the case is won and Vinny is walking out of the courthouse, Stan, the sheriff, Bill, and Mr. Trotter all take turns congratulating and thanking Vinny. Pay close attention to the shot where Mr. Trotter is congratulating Vinny. In the background you will see a woman with a very bright red sweater leaving the courthouse, then after the judge has congratulated Vinny and everyone is waving as Vinny and Lisa drive away, you will see the woman in the red sweater leaving the courthouse once again. Also, in the same scene during the part where everyone is waving as Vinny and Lisa drive away, look to the left side and you will see three people standing in front of the courthouse, in particular a man wearing a hat, leather jacket and jeans. In the very next shot, when the woman in the red sweater leaves the courthouse for the second time, you will see the same man along with the other two people leaving the courthouse walking behind the woman in the red sweater.
Continuity mistake: The whole scene between Vinny and Lisa at the BBQ joint looks like it was shot in pieces at different times. When Lisa tells Vinny she got "stiffed" and while he is saying "Whoa whoa, what do you mean?", there are two camera angle shots. Lisa's plate moves closer to her; her corn on the cob, sauce cup, and soda-straw wrapper all change positions; Vinny goes from lifting a forkful of food toward his mouth to having no fork in his hand at all; Vinny's Coke can moves closer to him.
Continuity mistake: When the judge goes to make a phone call about Jerry "Callo, " he throws his robe on the back of his chair. In the next shot it's gone.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Vinny tells Lisa "Do me a favor, don't read this book, OK?" there is a shot where her hands are folded near her face, the next shot of the same scene he pulls the book away from her and her hands are now in her lap. The camera shot changes several times. With each new shot, her hands move back and forth between her face and lap.
Continuity mistake: When the car gets stuck in the mud (and Vinny falls in the mud), his hand is at the top of the window, when he's slamming the door shut. However, in the next shot, his hand is at the bottom of the window.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Vinny and Mona are talking in the DA's office, look at the computer monitor sitting on the desk. In one shot, you see the sun from the blinds hit the screen. When you see the monitor again a second later, there is no light hitting it and the monitor is moved slightly.
Factual error: As an out-of-state attorney, Vinny would have had to file documents for admission to the state bar association "pro hac vice" ("for this case"), and the boys would have been assigned a local attorney to ensure compliance with the rules of procedure, which Vinny kept violating.
Factual error: In District Attorney Trotter's opening statement he asks the jury to convict William Gambini of murder in the first degree and Stan Rothenstein of accessory to murder in the first degree. There is no such crime in the Alabama criminal statutes. It has to be either Capital Murder or just Murder. Alabama does not have different "degrees" of murder. Also the arraignment and trial are both conducted by the same judge. In the Alabama court system a District judge would have conducted the arraignment, while a different Circuit judge would have conducted the jury trial. It's ironic since the director brags about his attention to detail in the DVD director's commentary. He obviously didn't check it too closely.
Continuity mistake: At the end, when Lisa and Vinny are in the BBQ place and he's making comments about her pictures, her hand alternates between up by her face and down on the table between shots.
Continuity mistake: When Vinny is giving the Judge, at side bar, his "lucid and well thought out" objection to expert George Wilbur, when Vinny starts to make the objection, we see the gem on his pinky ring is facing straight up, then the gemstone is facing toward the side, and then the gemstone appears even more to the side, all during the brief time Vinny's giving his objection.
Continuity mistake: When Vinny is questioning Mrs. Riley, he is using a tape to take a measure. You see from the front of the room the tape is over the bench but when you see it from the end of the room the tape is holding free.
Audio problem: When Vinny questions Lisa about the photograph of the tire marks, the soundtrack has been changed to the opposite of what she actually says. When her lips say "left" we hear "right" and when she says "right" we hear "left".
Continuity mistake: When Vinny is showing one of the witnesses the pictures with the trees and the dirty screen, if you look at the pictures (as Vinny is holding them) you can see the last one has a blue back. When the shot changes, the last picture has a white back and the blue backed one is further up in the stack.
Continuity mistake: When the stuttering lawyer is walking back to the table after his opening statement, Stan has his hand up by his face. In the next shot, both hands are down.
Chosen answer: He never says that it was "his" idea. The actual quote from the movie is that on "a" hunch he looked it up. From the way it is worded in the movie, it appears he said it this way in order to appear impartial in bringing any new evidence to the court's attention, not necessarily just information that would benefit the defendant's case.
Jazetopher