Analyze This ***
rated R starring Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, Lisa Kudrow, Joe Viterelli, Chazz Palminteri written by Peter Tolan, Harold Ramis, Ken Lonergan directed by Harold Ramis
Last year's mob comedy MAFIA! didn't work very well, due to lack of a smart script and good acting. Harold Ramis' ANALYZE THIS works in all the ways that MAFIA! doesn't. ANALYZE THIS tells the story of Long Island shrink Ben Sobel(Billy Crystal), who one day gets into a car accident with a mobster nicknamed Jelly(Joe Viterelli) and the trunk pops open, exposing a half-dead, tied up man. "You didn't see nothing," Jelly assures him. Jelly's Don, Paul Vitti(Robert De Niro), keeps having panic attacks, and expresses the need to see a shrink to discuss "his friend." Jelly tells him about the one he ran into, and Vitti pays him a visit. Vitti seems to be losing his gangster mentality. He cries at corny commercials and can't find the will to kill a person anymore. Vitti becomes so obsessed with becoming sane that he follows Sobel to Florida, where he is supposed to wed Laura(Lisa Kudrow).
If put in the hands of other filmmakers, ANALYZE THIS would become a mess. But director Ramis(GROUNDHOG DAY) keeps things light, and gets great performances from both leads. Billy Crystal has found a role wothy of his comic presence, but the one who steals the show is undoubtedly De Niro. The greatest actor of all time in my opinion, De Niro shows an gives an exceptionally funny performance. In the film, he seems to be reprising all the mob characters he's ever played, and for that reason, De Niro's Vitti didn't need to be a very developed character, just a funny guy. ANALYZE THIS also gives viewers the first chance(I think) to watch De Niro cry. Oh, if only word got out to the Corleone family... There is nothing groundbreaking about ANALYZE THIS, but it features a performance that any De Niro fan should seek out.
review by The Teenage Movie Critic akiva@excite.com http://www.angelfire.com/mo/film
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