ANALYZE THIS
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: One of the big crime bosses of New
York decides he needs to see a psychiatrist.
Harold Ramis gives us a comedy that has a promising
beginning, but nothing original to do in the middle
or the end. Once the good gags are over the film
seems to have nothing to do but repeat them and
tell a superficial crime story. The sub-plots of
the psychiatrist and his patient, and of the gang
war are both hackneyed and way, way too
predictable. Even the laughs trail off in the
second half of the film. Rating: 6 (0 to 10), 1
(-4 to +4)
Paul Vitti (Robert DeNiro) is the head of one of New York City's two biggest crime families. But he is losing his drive. He is beating people up less and he is feeling their pain more. For no apparent reason he will start crying. (The head of a crime family beats people up himself???? Why does this not seem very likely?) He decides he needs good psychiatric help, but he must keep it secret since seeing a psychiatrist would be seen as a sign of weakness. Through an odd chain of events he chooses analyst Ben Sobel (Billy Crystal). But the last thing Sobel wants is one of New York's most notorious criminals as a patient. Nor does Sobel know how to treat Vitti. A psychiatrist works by getting and holding the upper hand over his patient. No matter what a patient does the psychiatrist must always be in control of the situation. With Vitti he is dealing with a man who is also expert at control, even if he needs a gun to maintain it. The two of them begin a battle for control of their sessions. It is a struggle that should have been more interesting than it was.
But his doctor is not the only opponent that Vitti is battling. He is in a cold war with Primo Sindone (Chazz Palminteri), the head of New York's other major crime family. And Sobel may become a pawn in the conflict. At the most inconvenient times suddenly Sobel will be summoned to have a silly psychiatric session with Vitti. It is a gag repeated as many times as is necessary to fill out the length of the film. Writing which is very funny in the first part of the film is wasted in a film which has much sparser and less funny gags in its second and third. This film could have done more with the doctor- patient relationship, but settles for pop psychology and an instant miracle cure. It could have done more with the crime plot, but it settles for something hackneyed and overly cliched.
What is curious about the film is that the acting is way below anybody's standards. Robert DeNiro coasts along as the gangster, a part he could play in his sleep. What gives Vitti potential as a character is that he has emotional problems, but DeNiro is not used to playing emotional problems of this sort. When he cries in front of the camera it is like amateur night tryouts for the Actors' Studio. His touch at comedy is only marginally better. Billy Crystal is again the nice-guy, sincere, New York Jew he always plays, only this time he plays it as a psychiatrist. This would have been a far more engaging film if on Day One DeNiro and Crystal would have just looked at each other, said "not this role again," and then traded roles. Lisa Kudrow is capable or more but plays a bewildered third wheel in the grand tradition of Terry Garr. She should never have settled for such a tangential role. More interesting are the character roles of Joe Viterelli as the bodyguard Jelly and Chazz Palminteri is his usual riveting character.
Many of the jokes really are funny, but again most are in the first half of the film. There are also some interesting allusions to crime films, both in the dialog and visually. But the script by Ken Lonergan and Peter Tolan is not content to simply have many of the allusions, it must tell the viewer about them so that they are not missed. It sacrifices subtlety. Overall this averages out to being a decent comedy, but it was capable of being much more. I rate it a 6 on the 0 to 10 scale and a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 1999 Mark R. Leeper
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