Billy Crystal and Robert De Niro star in "Analyze This," a 1999 film about a psychiatrist and his mob boss patient. This very funny premise is well handled by the actors, director Harold Ramis and a fairly sophisticated script by Ramis, Peter Tolan and Kenneth Lonergan. With so many comedies today that are aimed toward the lowest common denominator, "Analyze This" is a refreshing change.
The story concerns a mob boss, Paul Vitti, who finds himself wimping out, unable to kill or beat anybody up, and who goes on crying jags for no reason. One of his people has a business card from a Dr. Ben Sobel, as the two were involved in a car accident. Vitti then proceeds to disrupt Sobel's life totally by barging in while sessions are going on, having his henchmen bring Sobel to him in the middle of the night, and ultimately ruining his wedding to his girlfriend Laura (Lisa Kudrow). The Feds approach Ben about wearing a wire; they play a doctored tape with Vitti stating that he's going to kill him, so Ben agrees. However, Ben is beginning to understand that Vitti really wants to be helped even though he's resistant.
There are some great scenes and funny dialogue, including Godfather references in "Analyze This." The character of Vitti using psychiatric terms to other mobsters is a riot - he tells his rival (Chazz Palmenteri) that he needs "closure" and tells someone else that he has aggression issues. I have to agree with one poster here who says audiences saw a cut of a longer film. There were subplots dropped. I don't totally agree about DeNiro's crying scenes. Some were more believable than others. His comedy is great; what makes good comedy is the ability to be an entire person, not just a funny one. Obviously DeNiro knows this, but the director may have wanted something broader from him. I remember seeing Maggie Smith in Lettice and Lovage and laughing myself sick for the entire show. Toward the end, she leaves a phone message which is a small monologue, and you could hear a pin drop in the audience. It broke your heart. "Analyze This" comes very close to achieving that kind of experience but just misses.
Billy Crystal's timing is perfection as a scared, annoyed and frustrated psychiatrist who nevertheless knows something about "boundaries" and asserting himself. At one point, he stands up for himself and gets thrown into a shark tank. He rethinks being assertive.
"Analyze This" won lots of awards and nominations and was successful enough to spawn a sequel starring Crystal, DeNiro and the gang again in 2002, "Analyze That." Really worth seeing.
The story concerns a mob boss, Paul Vitti, who finds himself wimping out, unable to kill or beat anybody up, and who goes on crying jags for no reason. One of his people has a business card from a Dr. Ben Sobel, as the two were involved in a car accident. Vitti then proceeds to disrupt Sobel's life totally by barging in while sessions are going on, having his henchmen bring Sobel to him in the middle of the night, and ultimately ruining his wedding to his girlfriend Laura (Lisa Kudrow). The Feds approach Ben about wearing a wire; they play a doctored tape with Vitti stating that he's going to kill him, so Ben agrees. However, Ben is beginning to understand that Vitti really wants to be helped even though he's resistant.
There are some great scenes and funny dialogue, including Godfather references in "Analyze This." The character of Vitti using psychiatric terms to other mobsters is a riot - he tells his rival (Chazz Palmenteri) that he needs "closure" and tells someone else that he has aggression issues. I have to agree with one poster here who says audiences saw a cut of a longer film. There were subplots dropped. I don't totally agree about DeNiro's crying scenes. Some were more believable than others. His comedy is great; what makes good comedy is the ability to be an entire person, not just a funny one. Obviously DeNiro knows this, but the director may have wanted something broader from him. I remember seeing Maggie Smith in Lettice and Lovage and laughing myself sick for the entire show. Toward the end, she leaves a phone message which is a small monologue, and you could hear a pin drop in the audience. It broke your heart. "Analyze This" comes very close to achieving that kind of experience but just misses.
Billy Crystal's timing is perfection as a scared, annoyed and frustrated psychiatrist who nevertheless knows something about "boundaries" and asserting himself. At one point, he stands up for himself and gets thrown into a shark tank. He rethinks being assertive.
"Analyze This" won lots of awards and nominations and was successful enough to spawn a sequel starring Crystal, DeNiro and the gang again in 2002, "Analyze That." Really worth seeing.