Movie Review

Analyze That

If there was a movie that started out so well, only to drift into tedium, Analyze That is the one.

This sequel to the 1999 smash hit Analyze This proves just how limited the material actually is for a comedy about a mobster who goes to see a shrink.There are very few jokes here that are very fresh, and there are far fewer that capitalize on the original's interesting idea.

Only the two constants in each film have always been Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal. They manage to bring a little life into this sequel even when it should be as lame as a Kenny G concert. Actually, this is probably the funniest we've seen out of Billy Crystal since Analyze This.

The plot begins at Sing-Sing prison where mob boss Paul Vitti (Robert DeNiro) is serving time. Someone is trying to kill him and the only way to figure out who is for him to get released. He does this by pretending to go totally mad, starting a mess hall riot and singing tunes from "West Side Story." This inspires the movie's funniest scenes of DeNiro singing songs like "Maria, Maria" and "I Feel Pretty."

This ultimately forces the state to bring in his former doctor, Dr. Ben Sobel (Billy Crystal) for a diagnoses. After examination, Sobel defines Vitti as suffering from temporary psychosis and explains that more prison time could make him substantially worse. The FBI then orders Vitti to be placed in Sobel's care so that he can treat him and reform him, or at least that's what they say. In actuality, they see Vitti back on the street as a way to end the mob rivalry between Vitti's family and another.

Ben soon discovers what Paul is really up to and he isn't happy about it. It's also not like Ben doesn't have problems of his own, as his father has just died and he is still trying to come to terms with his memory of him. As he says, "I'm grieving, it's a process." Now he has to reform a known gangster on top of it.

Analyze That is funny in spurts. There are a few solid one-liners, but much of the movie's more outrageous stuff comes from DeNiro and Crystal. DeNiro really is working hard here and most of the time the joke itself is that he does things that you would never expect him to do. Crystal is given most of the lines, but it's his nervous delivery that makes even the weakest line work. He also does hysterical work in a scene at a restaurant where Ben over-medicates himself.

Unfortunately, this movie starts to run out of material long before it's over. That's when writers Peter Steinfeld, Peter Tolan, and Harold Ramis turn to crotch jokes. It's not that some of them aren't funny, it's just that they are used too extensively. The dead father and mafia rivalry subplots are also ill-advised in that they are less funny than just filler.

DeNiro and Crystal do their best, but there are not enough laughs in Analyze That to recommend it. There aren't that many mob-boss shrink situations that haven't already been covered by the original, and so this movie has very little to fall back on. Let's hope that this is the last in the series.

Craig's Grade: C+

A	10.9%
B	41.8%
C	31.8%
D	15.3%
F	0.3%