Analyze This

Released 1999
Stars Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, Lisa Kudrow, Joe Viterelli, Richard C. Castellano, Chazz Palminteri
Directed by Harold Ramis

The greatest asset evidenced by Harold Ramis' gangster comedy, Analyze This, is that it doesn't try too hard for laughs. Instead of force-feeding audiences stale, predictable jokes about mobsters and mayhem, Ramis is content to let the humor evolve naturally out of the situations postulated by the script and the performances of lead actors Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal. The resulting movie, while not consistently uproarious, is frequently funny and occasionally hilarious.

Ramis scores a coup by getting De Niro to parody his on-screen image. De Niro plays it almost straight as mob boss Paul Vitti, who is not a "happy, well-adjusted gangster." Once, he was able to kill and brutalize without compunction, but now the day-to-day activities of a made guy are wearing him down. He's suffering from panic attacks, and, from time-to-time, sentimental TV commercials cause him to break down and cry. If he's going to survive in a world where the appearance of machismo is everything, he has to banish his weakness through the most expedient manner possible - therapy. And it has to be done before his chief nemesis, Sindone, finds out. Because Sobel (Billy Crystal) had the misfortune of giving his business card to Vitti's stooge, he becomes the mobster's first candidate. Soon, like it or not, Sobel is on call - even if it means interrupting his wedding to a pretty Florida news reporter (Lisa Kudrow).

Summary by James Berardinelli