Good Fella on the Couch Analyze This
By Ross Anthony
I gotta tell you, I was preparing to wince. I mean the previews didn't look too promising and the ad in the paper made the two top name actors look like they were pleading for our forgiveness for making such a stupid movie. And De Niro, I just didn't know if I was ready to see a film hero make a fool of himself.
My premonitions were all in vain. "Analyze This" is a respectably funny piece of work. Crystal was as good as ever, and De Niro didn't let me down -- even when he cried like a big thug baby. In fact, I'm very impressed with him for taking that kind of risk (and also for not making a buffoon of himself). Who else could have played the part of a Mafioso gang boss gone all mushy funnier than an actor that we all hold with such high and hardened wise-guy esteem?
I think you know the story, gangland boss Paul Vitti (De Niro) goes soft (under more than one type of situation) so he hires (loosely kidnaps) a shrink (Billy Crystal) to put his head back together. Wonderfully neurotic Lisa Kudrow plays Billy's wife to be.
As I left the theater, I overheard a couple discussing the film ... "It was good, but not great." Be that as it may, let me tell you -- not only did I laugh a lot, but I went home with a nagging desire to play a Tony Bennett or Louis Prima CD.
Starring Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal. Directed by Harold Ramis. Rated R. Produced by Paula Weinstein and Jane Rosenthal at Village Roadshow/Warner Brothers.
Grade..........................A-
-- Copyright © 1999 Ross Anthony, currently based in Los Angeles, has scripted and shot documentaries, music videos, and shorts in 35 countries across North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. For more reviews visit: http://RossAnthony.com
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