Analyze This
Chad'z rating: *** (out of 4 = good)
1999, R, 103 minutes [1 hour, 43 minutes]
[comedy/crime]
Starring: Billy Crystal (Dr. Ben Sobel), Robert De Niro (Paul Vitti), Joe Viterelli (Jelly), Lisa Kudrow (Laura MacNamara); written by Peter Tolan, Harold Ramis, Ken Lonergan; produced by Jane Rosenthal, Paula Weinstein; directed by Harold Ramis.
Seen March 5, 1999 at 7:40 p.m. at Hoyts Crossgates Cinema 18, theater #2, with my brother John for free using my Hoyts critic's pass. [Theater rating: ***: good seats, sound and picture]
(author's note: this is the first review I've written since October 1998 when I reviewed "Rush Hour." That was FIVE months ago... so if I'm a little rusty, please bear with me.)
Originality is something today's entertainment industry seems to be running short on, so the new thinking seems to be "How many ideas can be recycled without going overboard?" I think it's fair to say `Analyze This' is an example of that thinking since its not exactly the most novel concept in the world, but it still manages to be everything a good movie should be. Isn't that the point of entertainment?
The film's selling point is obviously its plot, its stars and the creative forces behind it. We've seen a lot of crime movies starring Robert De Niro and a lot of comedies starring Billy Crystal and of course veteran comic talent Harold Ramis usually guarantees something good. But each's talent comes from a different school... world even. Bringing big names together for the sake of it is something Hollywood thrives on but doesn't necessarily succeed at (i.e. `Heat'), so why should this movie be expected to work?
Probably because everyone does what they do best, often stepping on the other's toes just to upstage them and it works.
The film tells the story of Dr. Ben Sobel (Crystal), a middle-aged psychiatrist who lives and works in the ‘burbs of New York City, and his forced encounter with mob boss Paul Vitti (De Niro). Vitti's your typical Mafia guy in a typical Mafia scenario surrounded by other typical Mafia guys in a typical conflict about typical `family' betrayal and rivalry.
Ramis doesn't try too hard to disguise the obvious which is good because otherwise the setting would immediately seem trite and cliched. He doesn't waste our time by giving a lot of back story, instead we're just kind of dropped in the middle of another `GoodFellas.' Within a few minutes or so we've got an idea of a bitter war between Vitti and Primo Sindone (Chazz Palminteri). There's some mention of some kind of big meeting coming up, which does play a major role in the film, but Ramis and his fellow screenwriters don't let it get too convoluted with the comedy.
How Sobel and Vitti come together really isn't relevant, and it's another obvious point the filmmakers know not to dwell on. What is relevant is the interaction between the two characters, especially as portrayed by these two fine actors.
Both Crystal and De Niro are allowed to do their usual schticks for a while and it's surprisingly effective. De Niro's Vitti is a bit more mature and calm than those he's played in Martin Scorcese's films. Here, he gets to play a `kinder, gentler' mobster with a bit of heart and soul (emphasis on `a bit'). After one of his elders is killed it actually saddens him, causing him to have anxiety attacks, although he refuses to believe it despite medical evidence.
Here's where the two come together and the initial confrontation is interesting. Mobsters in the movies only believe what they want to hear and people only tell them what they want to hear, so when Sobel begins telling Vitti what his problems REALLY are, it's a breath of fresh air (or maybe I should say nitrous oxide).
The chemistry between the two is great. Both characters are secretly afraid of each other despite their attempts to have macho facades. Vitti is afraid to hear the truth and Sobel is just plain afraid of Vitti. The result is dozens of funny scenes of each caricature trying to psych out the other. Imagine the type of routine Crystal does at the Academy Awards interacting with a De Niro character out of a Scorcese flick, except without the security of a blue screen. Now image both men slightly possessed by Woody Allen - how funny is that?
Of course the whole film isn't just the two men freaking each other out. This is a comedy about the mob so it definitely becomes the driving force of the plot. In fact, the film's handling of the plot is one of its best aspects. It plays its elements straight and realistic for the most part. If a mobster were to suddenly become an integral part of a regular person's life, it probably would have a huge effect of them. Since this is a comedy that effect is played for laughs and always very well.
Sobel is about to marry Laura MacNamara (Kudrow, in full `Phoebe Buffay'-form), a Miami television journalist, but can't since Vitti and his goons keep butting in. The goons, such as Jelly (Viterelli in a great performance), are played strictly for laughs a la `The Simpsons.' The atmosphere is enough to keep the satire cartoony enough for such a mainstream film, but without going too far and becoming zany (okay, it is a little bit zany but I liked it anyway).
There's nothing genus or ground-breaking to `Analyze This,' but it never really tries to be something it's not. Anyone can do a crime spoof or a fish- out-of-water flick or violent crime movie, but not everyone can do all three at once. That's what makes this film a fine investment of 103 minutes.
(3/6/99)
--------------------------------- Please visit Chad'z Movie Page @ http://members.aol.com/ChadPolenz - Over 200 new and old films reviewed in depth, not just blind ratings and quick capsules.
© 1999 Chad Polenz
Member of The Online Film Critics Society (www.ofcs.org)
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews