Analyze This

Mafia kingpin suddenly finds himself suffering from panic attacks, stress and bouts of sadness during his everyday mob routines. He decides to help himself, by seeing a psychiatrist. The shrink is not very willing to help the renowned gangster during the week of his own wedding bliss, but a little strong-arming by the kingpin’s “associates”, ultimately waives the doctor’s well-rooted reservations.

This is a very funny movie, I mean, it’s like…fuggeddaboudit! Whether or not you enjoy mob movies, this film will have you laughing out loud during several scenes, chuckling along to DeNiro’s infantile blubbering sessions, and re-appreciating Billy Crystal for the superior comedic actor that he is. This movie takes a completely overdone film genre, the mob films, and mixes it into a great script, some super performances, and an all-around good time. It’s never boring, striking jokes at every other line, and confirms Robert DeNiro’s stature as one of the greatest American actors of his generation. The superb performance put forth by DeNiro in this movie, is one of the main reasons that it works. You like to watch DeNiro. He has that charisma, that look, that weighty presence that makes you want to see him in each and every scene. He even convinces during his ultimate “breakthrough” scene with his doctor. This man is truly an American acting legend.

The one thing that did surprise me about this movie was its excessive use of obscenities. Not that I mind that one bit, it just threw me back a little considering that it was a comedy. Having said that, another reason for the script to work as well as it does, is because it doesn’t overly parody the mafia folks like in other comedies. It shows them as they are, violence, swearings and all, with pointed humour laced throughout. This was the first movie since THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (7/10) that actually had me missing many of its lines, due to the audience’s over-the-top laughter. I personally loved the whole “Freud” scene the best, along with the hilarious remake of a very famous scene from a very famous mafia movie. Francis would be proud! I’m actually looking forward to seeing this movie again on video, so that I could catch all of the lines the next time around. The light tone of the movie and its soundtrack are additional points to director Ramis, as well as the upbeat pacing and the solid acting. The film might not go down as well for non-DeNiro or non-Crystal fans, but everyone else should prepare to strap on their giggle-belts.

This movie’s got an original premise, some convincing performances by its leads, especially DeNiro in an atypical role, and plenty of fresh humour sprinkled throughout its spaghettilicious body of fun. Capice??

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian