Think of the sparks generated by Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, by Woody Allen and Diane Keaton or by Bogie and Bacall. Even when there isn't a romance or a buddying to be had, the appearance of two intriguingly contrasted actors can propel a movie most stimulatingly. For a movie built around two opposing or complementary characters, to whom roughly equal weight must be given, it's essential to find actors with roughly equal gravitas as well as a way of working together that creates a whole greater than the sum of two parts. Such an energy is achieved in two rather different movies opening this week, the conspiracy thriller Arlington Road and the comedy Analyze This. Arlington Road pits against each other two exceptionally sensitive and intelligent actors, Jeff Bridges and Tim Robbins.
Bridges plays a university professor who specialises in the study of terrorism in the United States.
Analyze This, by contrast, matches De Niro and Billy Crystal in order to make us laugh. Which it does, admirably. It shares its basic idea with the acclaimed TV series The Sopranos - mobster goes to shrink. Here, doing what is essentially a self-conscious parody of his mafioso roles, De Niro is the godfather who starts suffering from panic attacks. Crystal is the reluctant psychologist dragooned into helping him.