Find Me Guilty (2006)

IMDb plot summary: In the late 1980s, a low level gangster named Jackie DiNorscio defends himself in court in what became the longest criminal trial in American judicial history.

Directed by Sidney Lumet. Starring Vin Diesel, Peter Dinklage, Ron Silver, and Alex Rocco.

Much of the dialogue in this film is taken directly from court transcripts, a fact that they tell you at the beginning of the movie but that I forgot about until researching a bit to write this review, and it took me a bit by surprise, because the dialogue *feels* heavy-handed. I can only assume the original transcripts were also heavy-handed! Diesel is not great in this film. He's not much of a dramatic actor, but he doesn't pull off the comedy here either, and always seems to be very self-consciously performing. Additionally, it's hard to know who to actually root for. I think we're supposed to identify more strongly than I did with DiNorscio's "I don't snitch on my friends" code, but my sympathies often lay with the prosecuting attorney who was devastated by the harm this family had done and wanted it to stop, and a few awkward jokes from DiNorscio in court don't make me forget that. Kind of a weird messy movie.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Find Me Guilty < Dark and Stormy Night

Find Me Guilty < Live-In Maid

Find Me Guilty > Color Me Kubrick

Find Me Guilty > Wild Strawberries

Find Me Guilty > The Rainmaker

Find Me Guilty > Domestic Disturbance

Find Me Guilty > Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

Find Me Guilty > The Phantom Tollbooth

Find Me Guilty < The Legend of Drunken Master

Find Me Guilty > The Name of the Rose

Find Me Guilty < Deliverance

Final spot: #2578 out of 3425, or 25%.