Find Me Guilty (2006)

Lack of good storyline.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I LOVED it. And I didn't think I would. I almost turned it off after about fifteen minutes because I was kinda tired, it was late, and Vin Diesel doesn't look nearly as hot without hair. But, I held out and I was given a real treat. It was excellent! Mr. Diesel can act well and is not just an action movie star. I found myself rooting for the smart ass mobster. I agree that Annabella Sciorra was good in her very small role and I wish we had seen more of her. Another thing, damn those guards for breaking up that hot, little scene they had going there. But, I digress and say that this movie was a filled with great laughs, good story line, and enough drama to make you really care about the characters. Definitely a thumbs up picture.

When I found out that this was going to be a courtroom drama I had serious doubts in watching this movie. While I like the genre there are no real surprises you can throw in the script especially when it is based on a true story. But nothing prepared me for Vin Diesel. "Find me Guilty" is his best performance till date. And he really makes this movie stand out. He shows a range I haven't seen before in his previous movies. There were a lot of moments in the movie you feel for the guy. We know that he is a gangster and has done some awful things and still you root for the guy. His closing statement really does look like it came from the heart. After seeing this it puzzles me why Vin Diesel doesn't do more roles like this. Maybe because they rather see him doing action movies. The direction was also great and I should have known that since Sidney Lumet was the director. Lumet has a certain style where he blends comedy and drama in such a way that it makes you connect with the characters. Go see this movie!

The only good thing about this movie is Louie Prima singing "When Your Smilin'"Ron Silver plays a good heavy as the judge but the rest of it so bad. Why even make a movie about this? Are they just trying to tell the truth or are they saying that it's OK to be a gangster? I guess to be a member of a jury in New Jersey (and in California) you have to be dead from the neck up. Also to be a prosecutor in New Jersey, you have to be the same I guess. The truth is that the gangsters were the smart ones in this incident and they never got out of grade school. Avoid this movie like the plague.

Great performance by Vin Diesel in here. I always just thought of him as an actor who did not have the ability to take on a non-action leading role. Wow did he prove me wrong here. Find Me Guilty was really a revelation in itself and for Diesel.The acting like I just said was great from Vin Diesel. Diesel has shown in the past some great supporting performances. With this movie he clearly showed that he can give a real acting performance. The way he displayed his character as a loud mouth, slick talking mafia man was just so genuine and real. He made me laugh every five minutes and still was able to draw me into the movie as a serious character. The supporting performances were nice here to from Peter Dinklage and Alex Rocco.The directing was very good if not great as well. When it comes to any film involving court Sidney Lumet is the man who should direct it. This is the man who directed 12 Angry Men and The Verdict which are probably the two of the top five court movies ever. This time though he is able to perfectly balance the comedy and drama of this movie to make this film very engaging and exciting to watch. Sidney Lumet once again proves to me at least why he is one of the most creative and best movie directors ever.The writing was perfect for this movie. In a way the movie was making fun of itself which is always nice to see in these type of comedies. Together with Diesel the writing made for some many laugh-out-loud scenes. Sidney Lumet with his directing and writing really is able to show that a real-life courtroom drama can realistically funny too.My advice is to definitely watch this movie if you have not. It is not a superficial meaningless movie and believe it or not is a little inspiring. Creativity in movies at its best.