Find Me Guilty (DVD, 2006, Checkpoint)

For some reason, I expected this movie to be a comedy. I don't know where I got the idea, but it definitely was not funny. Moreover, it was rather sad.

This film "based on a true story" stars Vin Diesel playing a clownish, over-the-hill mafia cappo who got the bright idea to defend himself during a RICO trial including 20 defendants and 360 days of evidence and testimony. What is sad about the movie is that this man is utterly clueless, a murderous criminal, and yet he wraps the jury around his little finger by making off-color jokes about cocaine and his wife's genitalia.

Worse yet, the film obviously tries to make you fall in love with the guy!

Nonetheless, the movie had its moments. There were some interesting points made about stereotypes and profiling, and there were a couple of humorous scenes. But, in the end, I wasn't really sure what the director was trying to do - make us laugh, make us love the criminal, or make us outraged about the fallibility of the jury system.

It's worth a watch, but I doubt I will view it twice.