If an actor reaches certain reputation, plenty of things that might have bothered him in earlier stages of career ceases to matter. In other words, such actor could afford to star in major flops and critical disappointments that would have been a certain doom for anyone else. Robert De Niro achieved such lofty status before starring in Analyze This, 1999 comedy directed by Harold Ramis.
Protagonist, played by Billy Crystal, is Ben Sobol, psychotherapist in New York City who intends to temporarily stop his practice in order to wed girlfriend Laura MacNamara (played by Lisa Kudrow). Those plans are going to be affected by strange set events related to Paul Vitti (played by Robert De Niro), one of Mafia bosses in New York City. Vitti is preparing for the important meeting of bosses during which he is supposed to end long time quarrel with Primo Sidone (played by Chazz Palminteri), boss of rival Mafia family. Business problems, however, aren’t what concerns Vitti at the moment – he recently began to act strangely, cry in front of TV cameras and suffer from erectile dysfunction. When doctors inform him that the cause of all these problems is depression, his loyal subordinate Jelly (played by Joe Viterelli) knows that other Mafia bosses would interpret as a fatal sign of weakness. Vitti must try to work out those issues before the meeting, while trying to keep his condition a secret. Due to specific set of circumstances, Sobol turns out to be an ideal choice to provide therapy. He is forced to treat Vitti against his will. The relationship between two men is complicated by Vitti’s reluctance to tell personal secrets to stranger, assassination attempts and federal investigation against Sobol’s patient.
Analyze This looked like a good “high concept” comedy on paper. Harold Ramis was director quite experienced in the genre, best known for Groundhog Day, which is considered to be one of the most successful comedies in past few decades. At first glance, Robert De Niro starring in film during which he parodies roles of mob bosses or gangsters he had played in The Godfather Part II or Goodfellas looked like a good idea. However, De Niro’s biggest successes were serious dramatic roles and his record in comedy left much to be desired, with We’re No Angels being one of the most illuminating examples. Here De Niro gives what it is arguably the worst performance of his entire career. Just like he had managed to elevate some films to greatness, here it sinks it even below the usual depths of mediocrity. His quality of acting is so bad that even the undisputed talents of Billy Crystal or Lisa Kudrow are of little help. Script co-written by Ramis, Kenneth Lonergan and Peter Tolan makes things even worse by jokes that aren’t funny or seem completely unoriginal and uninspired in its treatment of Freudian psychoanalysis. Many subplots and characters are unnecessary and what little comedy exist in the film often gets drowned by scenes of violence. Ramis wraps everything with Vitti coming to the meeting that would end in predictably sentimental happy ending. Analyze This, despite mixed critics, proved to be a big hit at the box office which allowed Ramis to make sequel Analyze That in 2002.
RATING: 2/10 (-)
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