ANALYZE THIS
SYNOPSIS:
New York mob boss Paul Vitti (Robert DeNiro) is having some unfamiliar experiences:
shortness of breath, crying fits, difficulty-ahem-performing. In short, Vitti's got
stress. Panic attacks – hard to take for a man who is used to giving ‘em. To
help with the problem, he goes to psychiatrist Ben Sobol (Billy Crystal) and is impressed.
The mild-mannered doctor is expected to be at Vitti's service 24 hours a day, a severe
inconvenience as Ben is preparing to wed his fiancée (Lisa Kudrow).
"Don’t analyse this, just enjoy it. The whole idea is to use the situation
and the characters for laughs, but there is just enough of an underlying dramatic element
– and enough performance power – to pull it off. Some of the dialogue is like a
linked banter for a sitcom, but it’s funny so you go along with it. The cliches, in
characters, settings and things like opera underscoring a machine gun hit on an Italian
restaurant, serve to settle the audience into a familiar landscape so the jokes stand out.
Aussie DoP Dryburgh’s photography is excellent (I mention this not to be patriotic
but because I hope you’d like to know) and DeNiro and Crystal deliver more than
expected from a concept that looks like a one note samba. And speaking of music,
that’s pretty easy on the ear, too. Analyze This is a great Saturday afternoon movie
with which to disconnect from the madding crowd – it may even be therapy."
Andrew L. Urban
"Fresh, funny and frivolous, Analyze This is a delight! Much more than a one-gag
movie, it cleverly combines wit, slapstick and glib one liners which are tossed around as
casually as a light crepe. In fact much of the comedy is quite sophisticated, enticing an
emotional response that could find you laughing one minute, crying the next. The balance
between drama and comedy is superbly managed, while Billy Crystal and Robert DeNiro are
dynamite together. Complementing each other beautifully, Crystal and DeNiro each carves
beautifully defined characters, rich in complexity and nuance. They are a joy to watch as
they expertly deliver lots of business, all the while appearing to be having a whale of a
time in this somewhat unlikely buddy movie. In fact, the whole film is great escapism and
can easily lift the spirits and allow the funny bone to ignite. Treated as a real gangster
movie, the lines between reality and fantasy are clearly drawn; humour set against
violence never offends. And it's played for real, not for laughs. The laughs come from
character-driven situations, which are far more effective. There are psychiatrist gags,
gangster gags; the humour is shuffled delectably throughout. Joe Viterelli and Chazz
Palminteri are superb as DeNiro's right hand man and top gangster honcho respectively,
with a welcome surprise appearance by the wonderful Tony Bennett. Directed with flair with
a snazzy, jazzy soundtrack, forget the analysis, just buy a ticket and laugh your socks
off."
Louise Keller
"In studio terms, this is what they call a concept comedy, a film written around
an idea based on the persona of a star or two. There's not a whole lot wrong with that
process as long as the concept is well enough developed to be sustained throughout.
Analyze This is certainly a funny movie - for the most part. At the same time, it
resembles an extended TV sitcom, with plenty of amusing vignettes minus the laugh track.
It's a flashy comedy with lots of amusing set pieces, but it's ultimately a forgettable
piece of silliness that proves diverting. The film does boast a wonderfully comedic turn
by De Niro who manages to pull back just enough to avoid self-parody, yet he uses his
persona to beautiful advantage. Crystal is less effective, underplaying his role to excess
and only coming to life in the film's last act. Lisa Kudrow is wasted here and delivers
another extension of dull Friends schtick. Highlights of the movie include a delightful
homage to The Godfather, and a funny moment featuring De Niro releasing aggression. The
film is full of such moments, but that's what it is: a movie based on a fun premise that
was never fully thought out. "
Paul Fischer
|
Email this article

CRITICAL COUNT
Favourable: 2
Unfavourable: 0
Mixed: 1

ANALYZE THAT REVIEWS
"It felt as if we were .. trapeze artists flying
through space and having to catch each other." Billy Crystal TELLS of working with Robert De Niro
ANALYSE THIS (M)
(US)
CAST: Robert DeNiro, Billy Crystal, Joe Viterelli, Lisa Kudrow, and Chazz Palminteri
DIRECTOR: Harold Ramis
PRODUCER: Jane Rosenthal, Paula Weinstein
SCRIPT: Peter Tolan and Harold Ramis and Kenneth Lonergan
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stuart Dryburgh
EDITOR: Christopher Tellefse
MUSIC: Trevor Jones, Howard Shore
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Wynn Thomas
RUNNING TIME: 103 minutes
AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTOR: Roadshow
AUSTRALIAN RELEASE: March 11, 1999
VIDEO RELEASE: October 6, 1999
VIDEO DISTRIBUTOR: Roadshow Home Entertainment
|