Audience Member
another film by the late Harold Ramis focusing on the psychology of a gangster as well as his psychiatrist a fine cast made up of Robert DiNiro, Billy Crystal, Lisa Kudrow, and Molly Shannon Paul Vitti is part of the mafia yet he has an anxiety attack and seeks out professional help in comes Dr. Ben Sobel who specializes in analyzing people's troubles and usually solving them with Vitti though it's a special case because it's against his judgment and considering how many mob ties he has Sobel is about to get married and Vitti isn't making things easy laying his issues on the table to be heard it also doesnt help that Sobel is recruited by the feds to gain intel on Vitti's operations with the possibility of getting caught although he may be his best chance at conquering some past demons and insecurities this is actually a funny mixture of gangster-crime and buddy comedy DiNiro and Crystal are enjoyable peas in a pod, mostly this is DiNiro reliving his Goodfella/Godfather days even a gangster has emotional and personal issues to work out it's all good fun with some shootouts and laughs mixed in
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/06/24
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Leaburn O
Easy light hearted, not laugh out loud but not too wet. The Sopranos setup given a tidy comedic twist with two good performances from De Niro and Crystal. Watched on DVD which I found for £1.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/14/24
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Adrian B
Raises some furious laughs, falls into many cliches, but De Niro and Chrystal as well as good supporting acts, pull the film above average entertainment.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
11/13/23
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Linguist383 N
i loved the whole cast. Rob De Niro is a godfather of the industry. and all of the task were great. i love the mob movies and i think that they have a broad audience. and this movie is no exception, highly recommended. very clever and unique comedy from the whole crew and cast.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
10/24/23
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Matthew D
Harold Ramis spoofs The Godfather and Goodfellas, while resembling The Sopranos.
Director Harold Ramis' crime comedy Analyze This (1999) is quite funny on its own merits. It really does feel remarkably like The Sopranos' premise. He makes Billy Crystal's blunt and sarcastic shrink give verbal therapy to Robert De Niro's raging mobster. It's just like The Sopranos, funnily enough, with a mob boss needing therapy, even though that would get them killed immediately in real life. Ramis brings his iconic whimsical and irreverent humor for a lark.
Ramis brings a moody mob style as director. Cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh has sharp medium and close-up shots that look quite similar to how The Sopranos is shot, but obviously not quite the same caliber. Editors Christopher Tellefsen and Criag Herring's cuts lets the scenes play out neatly without getting in the way of these outrageous Italian stereotypes that are fun to watch. As James Gandolfini says as Tony Soprano, "Analyze This, that's a f'ing comedy!"
Writers Harold Ramis, Peter Tolan, and Kenneth Lonergan have a laugh about emotions in toxic masculinity obsessed males in the mob. It's like they're making fun of The Godfather, Goodfellas, Casino, or Once Upon a Time in America with a lighthearted sense of humor. Casting directors Ellen Chenoweth and Laura Rosenthal happened to cast half of the cast of The Sopranos.
Robert De Niro is hilarious as the tough mafioso boss Paul Vitti. His sobbing is terrible, but his imposing delivery is fascinating and fun to watch. I love Robert De Niro trying to play Vitti totally straight and fearsome. De Niro knows exactly how to play Vitti with a threatening persona, while also feeling insecure and sensitive because of his panic attacks.
Billy Crystal is funny as the nervous, frustrated, and sarcastic shrink Dr. Ben Sobel. He is funniest when he's intimidated or scared of De Niro. He feels intelligent, yet goofy enough to play incredulous. Lisa Kudrow is hysterical and adorable as Sobel's lovely fiancée Laura MacNamara. Her being upset at Crystal treating De Niro is a riot. Her facial expressions are a scream.
Chazz Palminter's furious gangster Primo Sidone is fierce. Joseph Rigano's Manetta is pretty fun, but Joe Viterelli is super funny as the portly mobster Jelly. Molly Shannon is amusing as the complaining patient Caroline. Aasif Mandvi was on The Sopranos doing the exact same thing as Dr. Shulman here. Lorraine Bracco's sister Elizabeth Bracco actually cameos as Marie Vitti.
Production designer Wynn Thomas recreates Italian statues and fountains to mob hideouts. Art direction from Jefferson Sage pulls off brightly lit daylight shots to shadowy nighttime mob hits. Set decorator Leslie E. Rollins puts therapy couches and pillows everywhere besides the shadier mafia spots. Composer Howard Shore has a vibrant style with huge sweeping orchestral music for Analyze This. Costume designer Aude Bronson-Howard puts fancy suits on Robert De Niro and ordinary clothes on everyone to make the mobsters stand out. Analyze This is a pleasant 103 minutes.
In short, Analyze This is not The Sopranos, but I was constantly laughing at Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal's confrontational therapy talks.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
07/31/23
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michael d
It has been a long time since I have seen a comic duo form a better shtick than Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal in the mob comedy "Analyze This," a smart, amusing satire from director Harold Ramis ("Multiplicity," "Groundhog Day"). For a movie like this to succeed past a commercial level, chemistry between the main characters must be amiable and spirited. Crystal and DeNiro indeed mold amiable incentive between themselves, therefore quite a few hilarious moments emerge from their perception of the well-written script by Kenneth Lonergan, Peter Tolan, and Ramis himself.
"Analyze This" details the lives of two very different individuals. The first person is played by Billy Crystal, a calm, cool, and collected psychiatrist named Ben Sobol, who is divorced with a young teenage son and is engaged to soon wed a resigning TV reporter named Laura MacNamara (Lisa Kudrow). Ben is currently dealing with a emotional patient (Molly Shannon) distressed because her spouse left and filed a restraining order on her. This woman's problems will seem like nothing when Ben obtains his new client.
Robert DeNiro plays the second person this movie examines, the most powerful mobster in the city of New York, Paul Vitti. He and his accomplices, including a chubby and clumsy bodyguard named Jelly (Joe Viterelli), are in the process of significant business when Vitti experiences an anxiety attack. On the road to a nervous breakdown, this emotionally vulnerable man comes to Ben after Jelly briefly encounters the therapist during a minor car accident. Ben is very nervous with his new patient, who forces compliments and demands upon him.
The first confrontation sequence between Ben and Paul is quite engaging. There is an instant odd couple chemistry among the two characters. The witty sessions Sobol and Vitti consummate are also very imaginative and smart. The scenes also have the intelligence to take Vitti's emotional problems seriously.
The setup accurately introduces both the gangsters and the psychiatrist's family. We understand the mob boss's feelings of stress and depression; this picture is not all shallow slapstick comedy, there is a dimensional human touch. The film takes its conflicts seriously, but executes them in a cute humorous style. The audience can also relate to Billy Crystal's character, who is an average Joe with a typical American family in a complicated situation in which he is not entirely sure how to handle.
Both external and internal conflicts are interestingly accomplished, well structured, presented, and written. The film does a good job of convincingly bringing the world of mobsters to life with well-cast actors and their rich, stylish accents.
Paul Vitti's sexual life needed more exploration; although his adulterous intentions do induce a few laughs, the story could have gone somewhere with his infidelity. Vitti's family is also irresolute. The film almost never portrays them on screen and seldom does Paul himself discuss his children and wife. The Lisa Kudrow character is furthermore underwritten, never thoroughly examined and very shallow. The lack of chemistry amid Kudrow and Crystal leads to the unconvincing relationship Ben occupies.
Robert DeNiro is the perfect option for the comic role of Paul Vitti, who is a more difficult character than it may appear. DeNiro triggers a sharp comic edge and gives the right amount of exaggerated sentimentality to Vitti. Lisa Kudrow is fun to watch, producing a dim-minded character whimsically similar to the one in her hit TV sitcom "Friends." Chazz Palminteri and Joe Viterelli contribute different but energetic supporting roles.
"Analyze This" is unmistakably the right kind of movie for Billy Crystal. I am unaware of another Hollywood comedian who could have conquered his role with more proficiency and mirth; he is one of the main components that makes "Analyze This" work well. Harold Ramis's comedy obviously borrows ideas from past comparable films like "Grosse Point Blank" and "Mafia," but as this production proves, just because it was done before doesn't mean it cannot be successfully accomplished again with the right casting.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
06/29/23
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