Sort By: By Genre  |  By Rating  |  By Year

Starring: Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal
Director: Harold Ramis
Genre: Comedy
Year: 1999
Rating: 4 / 5

Robert De Niro is without a doubt one of the best actors alive today. That being said, one might be hard-pressed to find an instance where De Niro made the successful transition to comedy. We're No Angels, a late 1980s attempt with Sean Penn, hardly qualifies. The star of The Godfather, Part II, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and Heat has never truly excelled in the comedic realm - until now. Analyze This not only happens to be De Niro's most successful attempt yet at comedy, but it doubles as Billy Crystal's funniest effort since City Slickers. Of course, it certainly did not hurt that De Niro saw fit to mock many of the characters he has made famous over the years...

Anaylze This is the tale of a big-time gangster in the midst of a mid-life crisis. It seems that Paul Vitti (De Niro) no longer gets as much joy as he used to from beating up thugs and killing those who disappoint him. Rather, watching a Merril Lynch investment commercial actually brings him to tears. A chance meeting with Ben Sobol (Billy Crystal), a soon-to-be-married therapist, convinces Paul to let someone examine his life. Of course, it does not come across quite so easily. Being of the "tough guy" mentality, Paul cannot let it be known that he is seeking psychiatric help. After all, there is a huge roundtable meeting of all the nation's gangsters in a mere two weeks, and Paul has to be at the top of his game for that. He'll just meet with Dr. Sobol a few times, and everything will be fine.

Not quite so fine. It appears that Ben's wedding, to the lovely Laura (Lisa Kudrow, in a tolerable role), is to take place in mere days down in Miami. Of course, mobsters are never ones to let a little wedding get in the way of business, so Paul and family follow Ben to Florida, where Paul proceeds to have more and more "anxiety attacks." Meanhwile, Paul's rivals, not to mention the FBI, are left wondering who the new "player" is in Vitti's organization, unaware that it is merely his psychiatrist. From there it only escalates, culminating in a hilarious display of mob bravado by the esteemed Dr. Sobol.

Barring some bookend scenes where he clearly steals the show, Crystal excels at playing the straight man to De Niro's over-the-top emotional gangster. A dead-on spoof of The Godfather, where De Niro utters, "I'm not Fredo," was my personal favorite. Joe Viterelli delivers a humorous turn as Jelly, Paul Vitti's chief aid. Yet in the end, the movie belongs to De Niro. Seeing this legendary actor bawl uncontrollably is truly a sight to see, and he does an excellent job of not taking himself too seriously. The result - a surprisingly wonderful comedy, with all the key players performing at the top of their games.

Cast:

Robert De Niro..........	Paul Vitti
Billy Crystal..........	Ben Sobol
Lisa Kudrow..........	Laura
Chazz Palminteri..........	Sindone
Joe Viterelli..........	Jelly

Certification: Rated R for langauge.
Running Time: 105 minutes.

Additional Info: Internet Movie Database
Comments: Send E-mail
More Reviews: Feed My Ego