Trial and Error

Today
May 1997
By GENE SHALIT

If you loved "My Cousin Vinny," you'll be happy with "Trial and Error." Same director - Jonathan Lynn - has whipped up another nutso courtroom comedy. This time, Jeff Daniels is an Ivy League lawyer who's stuffy, and Michael Richards a minor league actor who knows his stuff. Through an unplanned switch of identities dreamed up by script writers Sara and Gregory Bernstein, they land in Judge Austin Pendleton's small-town Nevada courtroom, with Richards acting as the lawyer, although he doesn't know a deposition from a night deposit. With the frantic Daniels acting as if he's lost his mind, the accused con man, Rip Torn, wonders what kind of bozos are defending him. Chaos ensues. The judge sues for order. Daniels orders a drink. It arrives from the local short order waitress, Charlize Theron whose refreshing performance is of a HIGH order. Yes, as in "My Cousin Vinny," there's a girl. But instead of Marisa Tomei, who won an Oscar, we have Charlize Theron, who will win a lot of hearts. It this were Hollywood's golden age of big studios that knew what they were doing, Ms. Theron would be on her way to endearing stardom in the Jean Arthur, Carol Lombard, Irene Dunne mode. Instead, she's been born into a Hollywood that's in the grip of bean-counters and semi-literate script junkies. So for now, she's a waitress in this tiny desert town where Daniels has gone to dispose of what was supposed to be a one-day trial-until Richards tries to give him a hand and puts his foot in it. So with Daniels at his wit's end, and Richards using his wits to outwit the prosecutor Jessica Steen, "Trial and Error" is a slight bright comedy, lit up by Charlize (with a Z) - for zip zing and zest. If you're in the mood for some laughs and an enchanting newcomer, dropping is on "Trial and Error" would be no mistake.