Analyze This

USA 1999

Reviewed by Charles Taylor

Synopsis

Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.

New York, the present. Paul Vitti, head of a New York crime family, is stressed out. The first meeting in 40 years of all America's crime bosses is looming, a gathering that may set off a gang war and that reminds him of his father's murder soon after the last such meeting. Two weeks beforehand, Vitti survives a hit that leaves a friend dead and others suspicious that he ordered it. Jelly, Vitti's associate, is in a minor car accident with psychiatrist Dr Ben Sobel and gives Vitti the shrink's name. An initial meeting convinces Vitti Ben can help. Vitti soon has Ben at his beck and call, and even travels to Miami and disrupts Ben's wedding to his fiancée Laura.

Under surveillance by both the Feds and Primo Sindone, a rival boss, Vitti piques the curiosity of both parties about Ben. The Feds assume Ben is privy to information that can deliver Vitti to them. They pressure him to wear a wire by faking a tape to convince Ben Vitti intends to kill him. Vitti becomes convinced Ben is betraying him and accedes to his associates' demands that Ben be killed. But before Vitti can carry out the plan, Ben guides him to the psychological breakthrough that has eluded him. A relapse prevents Vitti from attending the meeting of the crime families, and Ben is plucked from his rescheduled wedding to act the role of consigliere. A recovered Vitti arrives to announce he's quitting the business. Before he can leave, Primo tries to kill him and wounds Ben instead, and the Feds arrive to arrest the gathering. Vitti is sentenced to 18 months in prison. He agrees to continue his sessions with Ben.

Review

There are plenty of good Mafia jokes in Analyze This, but the best is the one that informs the whole movie: life has become so stressful that everybodyAnalyze This makes comedy out of the same subject that was swamped in melancholy in director Harold Ramis' last picture, the touching and bungled Multiplicity - the price we pay for the satisfactions of the good life.

Since Groundhog Day Ramis films have been rare. He's a director of popular comedies that are truly funny without being juvenile, sweet-tempered or soft-headed. The laughs in his pictures grow out of character and situation. Analyze This, which was written by Ramis, Peter Tolan and Kenneth Lonergan, has a good, profane edge that's never abrasive. It's a near-flawlessly paced comedy in which Ramis pulls off a note-perfect, dream-sequence parody of the attempt on Don Corleone's life from The Godfather, as well as a subtler reference to the most affecting moment from Once Upon a Time in America.

Billy Crystal, underplaying nicely as straight man to De Niro, is rewarded with a sequence where, posing as Vitti's consigliere, he gets to cut loose with a version of Mafiaspeak that includes the gem "Badda-bing, badda-bang, Betty Boop". And De Niro is remarkable, giving an out-and-out comic performance that's still recognisably De Niro. He pushes moments like Vitti's crying jags as far as they'll go, and plays up to his ominously funny mood swings, such as the way his compliments to Crystal - "You have a gift, my friend. Yes, you do, you DO!" - wind up sounding like threats. Yet he also makes this tough guy temporarily reduced to sad sack a real character.

The stars are lucky to be supported by a bunch of gifted second bananas. If the force that can rattle Lisa Kudrow exists, she has yet to meet it. After her first attempts at matrimony fall prey to mob business, she tells De Niro off as if he were a caterer who screwed up the place settings. As Crystal's teenage son, rotund Kyle Sabihy isn't the usual brat or calculated charmer. You can imagine more experienced actors killing to deliver line readings as flabbergastingly dry. Best of all is tubby, bulbous-nosed Joe Viterelli as Vitti's right-hand man Jelly. It would be impossible to say which affords Jelly greater protection - his impenetrable bulk or his impenetrable skull. Viterelli (he was the guy who, laying eyes on Arnold Schwarzenegger in Eraser, inquired, "Who's the tree trunk?") lifts the dumb mobster schtick to something approaching comic grace.

Credits

Producers
Paula Weinstein
Jane Rosenthal
Screenplay
Peter Tolan
Harold Ramis
Kenneth Lonergan
Story
Kenneth Lonergan
Peter Tolan
Director of Photography
Stuart Dryburgh
Editors
Christopher Tellefsen
Craig P. Herring
Production Designer
Wynn Thomas
Music
Howard Shore
©Warner Bros. (US, Canada, Bahamas & Bermuda)
©Village Roadshow Films (BVI) Limited (all other territories)
Production Companies
Warner Bros. presents in association with Village Roadshow Pictures and NPV Entertainment a Baltimore/Spring Creek Pictures/Face/Tribeca production
Executive Producers
Billy Crystal
Chris Brigham
Bruce Berman
Co-producer
Len Amato
Associate Producer
Suzanne Herrington
Production Office Co-ordinators
Holly Rymon
Miami Crew:
David Price
Unit Production Managers
Denise Pinckley
Chris Brigham
Miami Crew Unit Manager
Scott Hornbacher
Location Managers
Michael Stricks
Miami Crew:
Maria Chavez
Post-production Supervisor
Helene Mulholland
Assistant Directors
Michael Haley
Robert C. Albertell
Joan Bostwick
Miami Crew:
Kellie Jotacket
Script Supervisor
Robin Squibb
Casting
Ellen Chenoweth
Laura Rosenthal
Associates:
Ali Farrell
Amanda Koblin
Camera Operators
Lukasz Jogalla
Patrick Capone
Miami Crew:
Neal Norton
Steadicam Operators
Andy Casey
Kyle Rudolph
Digital Visual Effects
Balsmeyer & Everett, Inc
Special Effects
Co-ordinators:
Steve Kirshoff
Wilfred Caban
Mark Bero
Miami Crew, Foreman:
Kevin Harris
Miami Crew:
Durk Tyndall
Art Directors
Jefferson Sage
Miami Crew:
Carlos A. Menéndez
Set Decorator
Leslie E. Rollins
Costume Designer
Aude Bronson-Howard
Costume Supervisors
Barbara Hause
Joanna Brett
Wardrobe
Sandi Figueroa
Marcie Olivi
Additional:
Denise Andres
Fionnuala Lynch
Make-up
Peter Montagna
Collier Strong
Key:
Michael Laudati
Hair/Make-up
Ilona Herman
Hairstylists
William A. Farley
Richard Marin
Key:
Scott W. Farley
Titles/Opticals
Pacific Title/Mirage
Title Design
Balsmeyer & Everett, Inc
Orchestrations
Homer Denison
Ryan Shore
Music Editors
Jennifer L. Dunnington
Dan Evans Farkas
Music Scoring Mixer
John Kurlander
Auricle Operator
Richard Bronskill
Soundtrack
"When You're Smiling (The Whole World Smiles with You)"/"The Sheik of "Araby"" by Mark Fisher, Joe Goodwin, Larry Shay, Harry B. Smith, Ted Snyder, Francis Wheeler, performed by Louis Prima; "M'appari tutt'amor" from "Martha" by Friedrich von Flotow, performed by Luciano Pavarotti, John Wustman; "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby" by Johnny Mercer, Harry Warren; "Conga" by Enrique Garcia, performed by Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine; "So Nice (Summer Samba)" by Marcos Valle, Paulo Sergio Valle, English title by Norman Gimbel, performed by Billy May and His Orchestra; "Good Vibrations" by Mark Wahlberg, Amir Shakir, Donnie Wahlberg, Dan Hartman, performed by Marky Mark and The Funky Bunch featuring Loleatta Holloway; "Mambo UK" by Jesús Alemañy, performed by ?Cubanismo!; "Violin Concerto No. 2" by Sergei Prokofieff; "La donna è mobile" from "Rigoletto" by Giuseppe Verdi, performed by Alfredo Kraus with the RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra, conducted by Georg Solti; "Kyrie", "Credo", "Gloria" from "Messe Agatange" performed by Jean-Patrice Brosse, Concerto Rococo, Choeur Gregorien Antiphona; "Inamorata" by Jack Brooks, Harry Warren, Dean Martin; "The Best Is Yet to Come" by Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh, performed by Tony
Bennett; "I've Got the World on a String" by Ted Koehler, Harold Arlen, performed by Tony Bennett; "Angelina (The Waitress at the Pizzeria)"/"Zooma Zooma" by Allen Roberts, Doris Fisher, Louis Prima, Paolo Citarella, performed by Louis Prima
Sound Design/Supervision
Sandy Berman
Production Mixers
Les Lazarowitz
Miami Crew:
Tom Nelson
Re-recording Mixers
Gregory H. Watkins
Michael Herbick
Kevin E. Carpenter
Dialogue Editors
Gloria D'Alessandro
Patrick Foley
Effects Editors
Randle Akerson
David Whittaker
ADR
Mixers:
Thomas J. O'Connell
David Boulton
Supervising Editors:
Michael J. Benavente
Nicholas Vincent Korda
Foley
John B. Roesch
Hilda Hodges
Supervising Editor:
Mark Pappas
Editor:
Gary Wright
Stunt Co-ordinator
Daniel W. Barringer
Marine Safety Co-ordinator
Miami Crew:
Alex Edlin
Helicopter Pilot
Al Cerullo
Cast
Robert De Niro
Paul Vitti
Billy Crystal
Ben Sobel
Lisa Kudrow
Laura MacNamara
Joe Viterelli
Jelly
Chazz Palminteri
Primo Sindone
Kresimir Novakovic
'50s gangster
Bart Tangredi
young Paul Vitti
Michael Straka
young Manetta
Joe Rigano
Manetta
Richard Castellano
Jimmy
Molly Shannon
Caroline
Max Casella
Nicky Shivers
Frank Pietrangolare
Tuna
Kyle Sabihy
Michael Sobel
Bill Macy
Isaac Sobel
Rebecca Schull
Dorothy Sobel
Pat Cooper
Salvatore Masiello
Leo Rossi
Carlo Mangano
Aasif Mandvi
Doctor Shulman
Neil Pepe
Carl
Tony Darrow
Moony
R.M. Haley
producer
Ian Marioles
soundman
Donnamarie Recco
Sheila
Vince Cecere
Tino
Jimmie Ray Weeks
FBI Agent Steadman
Robert Cea
FBI Agent Ricci
William Hill
FBI Agent Provano
Ira Wheeler
Scott MacNamara
Luce Ennis
Belinda MacNamara
Elizabeth Bracco
Marie Vitti
Gina Gallagher
Theresa Vitti
Francesca Mari
Anna Vitti
Vincent Vella Jr
Anthony Vitti
Mickey Bruno
Miami soldier
Dave Corey
Miami hall guard
Fred Workman
justice of the peace
Daniel W. Barringer
John J. Polce
dream sequence gunmen
Drew Eliot
priest
Grace DeSena
Tommy Angels's widow
'New York Joe' Catalfumo
exuberant mourner
Michael Guarino Jr
Stevie Beef
Michael Harkins
Paula Raflo
Ondine Harris
Matthew Vega
Paretti's family
Clem Caserta
Handsome Jack
Tony Ray Rossi
Potatoes
Judith Kahan
Elaine Felton
Ted Neustadt
rabbi
Pasquale Cajano
Joe Baldassare
Gene Ruffini
Frank Zello
Alfred Sauchelli Jr
Mo-Mo
Tony DiBenedetto
Johnny 'Bigs'
Frank Aquilino
Eddie 'Cokes'
Tony Bennett
himself
Certificate
15
Distributor
Warner Bros Distributors (UK)
9,296 feet
103 minutes 17 seconds
Dolby digital/DTS digital/SDDS
Colour/Prints by Technicolor
Last Updated: 20 Dec 2011