Analyze This

Plot synopsis:
Mob boss Paul Vitti narrates a brief history of the Mafia: in the wake of Albert Anastasia's death, the dispute over who among Vito Genovese, Carlo Gambino and Joe Bananas will ascend to mob supremacy results in the Apalachin Meeting in upstate New York. The meeting is raided by the FBI, and the Mafia does not call a summit again until the present day.
Vitti and his consigliere Dominic are discussing the upcoming meeting and the Mafia's present-day problems. However, just as Dominic warns Vitti to look out for Primo Sindone (an up-and-coming Mafia Don who wants to be capo di tutti capi), gunmen drive past and kill Dominic.
Psychiatrist Ben Sobel is dealing with his own problems: his son from his first marriage listens to his sessions, his patients are not challenging enough, and his wedding to Laura MacNamara is coming soon. Sobel unknowingly rear-ends a car belonging to Vitti and the trunk opens, revealing a man bound and gagged inside, which Sobel and his son do not notice because they are arguing. Jelly, one of Vitti's made men, takes the blame, but Sobel gives Jelly his business card in case he changes his mind about compensation.
During a meeting with his crew, Vitti suffers a panic attack and tells Jelly that he needs to see a psychiatrist, but it has to be kept a secret and Jelly recommends Sobel. Vitti visits Sobel, claiming his friend needs therapy. Sobel impresses Vitti enough to want to see him whenever necessary. Sobel goes to Miami for his wedding and Vitti, Jelly and the crew follow. Vitti explains he has been suffering from impotency and Sobel suggests the source of the problem might be stress.
The next day Vitti has another panic attack and requests to see Sobel. Vitti explains his history with his father to Sobel, who thinks this might have something to do with Vitti's problems. The wedding is interrupted when an assassin is killed by one of Vitti's thugs. Sobel confronts Vitti and argues with him until he becomes angry. Sobel suggests he resolve his anger issue by calling Primo Sindone and telling him how he feels. Vitti phones Primo and starts by telling him how he feels but ends up threatening to kill him.
Sobel and his family return to New York, where they find a fountain in their garden, a gift from Vitti. The FBI arrive and request Sobel inform on Vitti, but he refuses. He changes his mind when the FBI play an altered tape in which Vitti apparently reveals his intention to kill Sobel (Vitti had actually said he would kill anyone who harmed Sobel). Sobel wears a wire to his next meeting with Vitti, but throws it away when he learns that Vitti saw his father murdered when he was a child. Sobel thinks he can help Vitti, but Vitti, informed that Sobel was working with the FBI, takes him to a secluded place to kill him. Sobel and Vitti get into an argument, and Vitti cries when reminded of his father's murder. Just as this occurs, two hitmen sent by Sindone arrive to kill Vitti, but Jelly kills them both as Vitti is on the ground sobbing. Vitti apologizes for planning to kill Sobel, and the two reconcile.
The day of the meeting arrives, but Vitti has another meltdown. Jelly interrupts Sobel's wedding, requesting Sobel attend the meeting as Vitti's consigliere. Sobel is initially nervous, but his self-confidence grows to the point that he begins to patronize Primo until Primo finally pulls a gun on him. Vitti arrives, ordering Primo to stand down and announcing he knows a traitor in his own family killed Dominic, but will not seek revenge and instead retire from the Mafia. Once outside, a standoff ensues between Vitti's and Primo's men, during which Sobel accidentally takes a bullet intended for Vitti. The FBI intervenes, the mobsters are arrested, and Sobel is taken to the hospital.
Sobel visits Vitti in prison and Vitti thanks Sobel for his help before informing him that Primo Sindone was recently found dead. At home, Sobel dances with his new wife as Tony Bennett (as a favor from Vitti) serenades them.

Tags: entertaining, comedy, psychological, satire, murder

Review:
Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal square off in `Analyze This,' a satirical look at `family' life from director Harold Ramis.
There were only a few instances that I started to really laugh, but there were plenty of good and funny jokes, as well as some good touches of mobster-like crime.Ben Sobol (Billy Crystal) is a family psychiatrist who has a son and is engaged to the beautiful Laura MacNamara (Lisa Kudrow).
He gets into a car accident with a dim-witted man Jelly (Joe Viterelli), who happens to be the right-hand man to Paul Vitti, (Robert De Niro) the most powerful mobster in New York.
ANALYZE THIS / (1999) *** 	 It has been a long time since I have seen a comic duo form a better shtick than Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal in the mob comedy "Analyze This," a smart, amusing satire from director Harold Ramis ("Multiplicity," "Groundhog Day").
The first person is played by Billy Crystal, a calm, cool, and collected psychiatrist named Ben Sobol, who is divorced with a young teenage son and is engaged to soon wed a resigning TV reporter named Laura MacNamara (Lisa Kudrow).
Robert DeNiro plays the second person this movie examines, the most powerful mobster in the city of New York, Paul Vitti.
Harold Ramis's comedy obviously borrows ideas from past comparable films like "Grosse  Point Blank" and "Mafia," but as this production proves, just because it was done before doesn't mean it cannot be successfully accomplished again with the right casting..
This satirical slant on the classic mobster movies is excellently played out by Crystal and De Niro, who form a formidable comedy duo, with plenty of laughs.Rated 15 'Analyze This' doesn't shy away from profanity and violence, ensuring that it fits into the mobster theme seamlessly, delivering us a highly enjoyable movie without offending fans of the mobster genre.8/10.
The movie mostly benefits from very good direction by Harold Ramis and excellent performance by the actors and not just De Niro and Crystal.
When mobster Paul Vitti(De Niro) is suffering anxiety attacks for some odd reason, he sees a shrink named Ben Sobel(Crystal) to solve his tragedys and ways to move through the mob.
When he stared into that mirror and asked whom we were talkin' to, he smiled because he was sick and liked the idea of having the control, and enjoyed picturing the end result.In "Analyze This," when he stares at Billy Crystal with his iconic "Who you talkin' to?" glare, it is not out of pleasure, but out of sheer amazement.
Normally this might be considered normal (for the most part, at least), but the problem is that Vitti is a Mob Boss in New York City, meaning that if he can't muster up enough strength to carry out his duties, word of his weaknesses will travel, and he'll soon find himself sleeping with the fishes.Ben Sobel (Crystal) is a frustrated, failing psychologist trying to raise a son on his own, and keep a relationship with his girlfriend (Lisa Kudrow) from falling apart.
It may not be labeled as such, but in its essence it is a spoof of the last century's best gangster films, borrowing its plot from "The Don's Analyst" and benefiting from a wonderfully surprising (and humorous) performance by De Niro, who stretched his funny bones with Martin Scorsese's "The King of Comedy" and Neil Jordan's "We're No Angels," but masters the feat of effective facial features here.
He should stick to making kid's films about giant actors and such things.If you want to see a really good comedy in this vein, try Grosse Pointe Blank, about a hitman going to his 10-year high school reunion.
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsAnalyze This is not one of the best comedies ever,but it's certainly one of the best,inventive and most original in a long while.The script and comic timing are an ingenius success,and it's also intelligently compact,giving it little room to become ponderous and repetitive.Veteran gangster stars Chazz Palmenteri and Robert DeNiro gleefully lampoon their nasty gangster roles,to both chilling and uproarously funny effect.In the scenes where his charecter cries,DeNiro manages to stir up the emotions,but because he and his henchmen have such repulsive attitudes towards everyone,it's hard to like them,a detrimental thing in a comedy.The Italian-American's chemistry with co star Billy Crystal probably was'nt the most inspired or clever ever ,and Lisa Kudrow,not an overly talented performer anyway,is unintentionally wasted here in a mostly pointless role,and,like DeNiro,her relationship with Crystal is'nt the easiest to digest.Despite these minor hiccups however,AT is a hugely superior comic success ,with moments of absolute laugh out loud hilarity,and moments to touch the heart.Very impressive.****.
I would recommend to anyone (17 or over)!!!!It was one of those movies that you just don't want to end.I'm sorry to those of you who didn't like it because of the language but it is rated R and it has Robert De Niro, what do you expect??
Here we have mob boss Paul Vitti (Robert Deniro) who has to see psychiatrist Dr. Sobel (Billy Crystal) to be treated for panic attacks, and he then becomes so dependent that he follows Sobel everywhere, even interrupting (twice) Sobel's marriage to Laura (Lisa Kudrow).
Crystal and Deniro are good (although Crystal as Dr. Sobel doesn't strike me as a particularly good psychiatrist.) In general, the movie is mildly amusing and reaches the heights of hilarious when Sobel is "drafted" to represent Vitti at a meeting of mob bosses.Overall this isn't spectacular, but I would say it's above average.6/10.
Billy Crystal and Robert De Niro star in "Analyze This," a 1999 film about a psychiatrist and his mob boss patient.
However, Ben is beginning to understand that Vitti really wants to be helped even though he's resistant.There are some great scenes and funny dialogue, including Godfather references in "Analyze This." The character of Vitti using psychiatric terms to other mobsters is a riot - he tells his rival (Chazz Palmenteri) that he needs "closure" and tells someone else that he has aggression issues.
Analyze This is not the better movie of the two but De Niro once again proves that he can hold his own against an actual comedian, Billy Crystal.
It helps if you have seen De Niro in a straight gangster role first and then you can really see what's so funny about this movie.Like many comedies it has an abundance of stereotypes, most of which are dimwitted gangsters.
Robert De Niro has alot of fun spoofing his own gangster roles, and Billy Crystal is great as always.
Mary was fantastic, and this one is equal to the task but in a more adult way.DeNiro and Crystal are both very very funny and the cast of characters includes every Italian looking mobster you have ever seen in every mob movie in history.We loved it and so did the SRO audience at the Sneak Preview.Don't miss it..
if you want to see him cry..., Billy Crystal was good (you know, to be a comedy actor) and Lisa Kudrow mmmm not bad, she could give more.
One reason why I liked this movie so much is because you have Robert DeNiro playing Billy Crystals role as the comedian and Billy Crystal is actually playing the serious role I like the jokes alot in this movie couldn't stop myself from laughing and Lisa Kudrow had some pretty funny lines as well.This movie is probably on my top 10 comedys of all time..
Both leads play it perfectly you know you are going to get laughs with billy Crystal and Deniro plays the mob boss perfectly but always having a laugh with it aswel great movie with lots of laughs.
Both Freud and The Godfather take a pounding, but the best-conceived comic sequence comes near the end, when Crystal's Sobel is placed in a situation where he has to impersonate a Mafioso, and finds that he can't even pronounce "consigliere." Instead of force-feeding audiences stale, predictable jokes about mobsters and mayhem, Director Harold Ramis is content to let the humor evolve naturally out of the situations postulated by the script and the performances of lead actors Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal..
The best thing about this picture was his uniqueness which it stand,the Mob's leader asking for help of a psychiatrist is really funny,moreover when the patient is a tough guy as De Niro,sounds great,but somehow Billy Crystal didn't provide the same level than him,an unexpected performance came from Jelly that should be nominated as suporting casting for the Oscar,really interesting character that supply an absence of some,talking by Freud and his study over Oedipus complex is another highlight,when De Niro after this was affraid to phone his mother!!!Resume:First watch: 2001/ How many: 4 / Source: TV-Cable TV-Blu-ray / Rating: 7.5.
But you didn't expect a quality story from this movie, you expected to see Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal be funny together, and they are.
Frankly, this limited theme provides some good gags along the way, but is a bit thin to go the distance.Robert DeNiro (not surprisingly) plays a mafia hit man who is going through a kind of mid-life crisis-he's becoming sensitive and compassionate and its messing up his work.
In remembrance of the late writer-director Harold Ramis, whose GROUNDHOG DAY (1993, 9/10) is one of my all-time favorite comedies, ANALYZE THIS is another hoot although actually it is the brainchild of De Niro and Crystal, a farcical pastiche of De Niro's classic mafia mien (from THE GODFATHER: PART II 1974 to GOODFELLAS 1990, 9/10 and CASINO 1995, 7/10), he plays Paul Vitti, the notorious mobster boss, survives an assassination from his rival Primo (Palminteri) lately but horrified to find out his masculinity has been chipped away by certain panic attacks, he becomes a gun-shy and over-sentimental cry-baby, what's more vexing, his bed performance is effected as well.
Crystal contrives a more natural performance and he is a genuine poker-face humorist, it is not a demanding role for him, but his jest of a shrink's equivocations is the face-saving act in an otherwise disappointing coda ("I'm very good at being vague!").Kudrow barely steps out of her Phoebe impersonation and hasn't been given too much screen time either; character actor Joe Viterelli, on the contrary, imbues his loyalty with self-aware sense of wisdom, steals many laughters from two protagonists as Jelly, Vitti's heavy.
The only problem is that his psychiatrist, Ben Sobel wants nothing to do with him.One thing that surprisingly works well in this movie is the unlikely pair-up of Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal.
It's evident here that they had a good time and the chemistry is top-notch.Overall, Analyze This is a funny "spoof" of mafia films and it turned out better than I expected.
A comedy about a psychiatrist (Billy Crystal) whose number one-patient is an insecure mob boss (Robert DeNiro).I have to give these guys credit.
So, it is not surprising for a gangster comedy like "Analyze This" to make the most references to "The Godfather" and to have De Niro as the main protagonist, playing Paul Vitti, a mob leader with deep emotional problem, a Don who is slipping, as would say Virgil 'The Turk' Sollozo (May he rest In Peace).
Harold Ramis had the richer source of inspiration and the best actor to carry it, and I guess the reason it worked so well is because, as I said, there's a lot of natural comedy in gangster movies without the need of exaggeration (Brian de Palma's "Scarface" is another brilliant example as a drama full of unintentional comedy) and De Niro doesn't need to force himself to become funny.
Now, let's get to the second thing that serves the comedy: the presence of a 'straight man', it's the role of Billy Crystal's character, Dr. Sobol, as the psychiatrist who's asked to take care of Vitti, the kind of offer he couldn't, for his greatest displeasure, refuse.
When he's encountered by Jelly, Vitti's henchman in an aquatic park and refuses to meet Vitti, you find him in a shark aquarium, sometimes, the film allows itself a sort of over-the-top humor, but it's always funny.But if the film works thanks to the Crystal and De Niro pairing, the Auguste and the white- faced clown, the scene-staler is definitely the late mug-faced Joe Vitterelli as Jelly, the man who only understands one language, intimidation, killing, bribing and protecting, the Mafia ABC.
If only for De Niro, Crystal and Vitterelli, the film is worth a watch, not to diminish the merit of Lisa Kudrow, weird but efficient as Sobol's fiancé, Chazz Palminteri as Primo Sindone, Vitti's archenemy, and many faces you'd remember from Scorsese's mafia classics.Last point, the film even recreates a scene from "The Godfather", when Vito is shot in the orange stand, and when Sobol reveals to Vitti that he was playing the role of Fredo in the nightmare, Vitti's reaction said it all "I was Fredo, I don't think so?" the film remarkably interferes with the Gangster's pop-culture, denouncing its comical undertones.
Robert de Niro and Billy Crystal both deliver outstanding performances, de Niro played the type of character that he is use to playing, but with a twist, he had to do scenes like the character having a panic attack that really let the actor shine, as for Crystal, he played a very funny and believable psychiatrist who is caught up in a situation he dosen't want to be in, and he portrays this perfectly throughout.
Packed with big laughs and great character development, I would recommend Analyze This to anyone looking for a good comedy or crime film.
Criminal mastermind Paul Vitti (De Niro) struggles with his emotions after seeing his friend murdered and sees psychiatrist Ben Sobel (Crystal) to cure him.The first thing that struck me about 'Analyse This' is that it contains two fine acting leads.
Crystal hits all the right notes as Dr. Sobel, but it is De Niro who makes this film so special with his grandiose send-up of several characters he has played in the past.
But although if you've never seen Robert De Niro acting before, if i were you, pick another movie with him playing serious like "Goodfellas" or "The Godfather part 2", trust me his performance will be a lot more funnier.
Great contrast between 2 different personalities and great performance by Billy Crystal and Robert De Niro If you like crime and comedy, there is not a dull moment A very well done plot between a powerful man DeNiro and a doctor Cyrstal.
I don't remember ever seeing Robert De Niro's comedic side before and must say that it is quite good."Analyze This" is not a typical gangster shoot 'em up and kill 'em action film.
The man is funny and he had me on the floor for the majority of the film as Paul Vitti, a mob boss who has allowed the pressures of his work take such a physical and emotional toll on him that he begins therapy with Dr. Ben Sobel (Crystal)and then implants himself smack dab in the middle of Dr. Ben's life, forsaking all other patients.
The man is funny and he had me on the floor for the majority of the film as Paul Vitti, a mob boss who has allowed the pressures of his work take such a physical and emotional toll on him that he begins therapy with Dr. Ben Sobel (Crystal)and then implants himself smack dab in the middle of Dr. Ben's life, forsaking all other patients.
De Niro and Crystal get help from a strong supporting cast including Lisa Kudrow, Bill Macy, Pat Cooper, and especially the late Joe Vitrelli as Jelly, Vitti's stooge, who steals every scene he is in..
De Niro and Crystal get help from a strong supporting cast including Lisa Kudrow, Bill Macy, Pat Cooper, and especially the late Joe Vitrelli as Jelly, Vitti's stooge, who steals every scene he is in..
Good comedy with lots of action starring Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, and Lisa Kudrow!.
ANALYZE THIS, in my opinion, is a good comedy with lots of action starring Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, and Lisa Kudrow!
Now, in conclusion, to all Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, or Lisa Kudrow fans that have not seen this good comedy with lots of action, I highly recommend it!.
I don't remember ever seeing Robert De Niro's comedic side before and it's quite good."Analyze This" is not a typical gangster shoot 'em up and kill 'em film.
We usually find Robert De Niro in an action film as a gangster and Billy Crystal known to be a comedic actor.
We usually find Robert De Niro in an action film as a gangster and Billy Crystal known to be a comedic actor.
We usually find Robert De Niro in an action film as a gangster and Billy Crystal known to be a comedic actor.
While De Niro plays a gangster and Billy Crystal does have some comedic scenes, they seem to switch in this film.
While De Niro plays a gangster and Billy Crystal does have some comedic scenes, they seem to switch in this film.
While De Niro plays a gangster and Billy Crystal does have some comedic scenes, they seem to switch in this film.
Billy does great as well, but like I said, Robert takes the movie.Robert plays Paul, a big time mobster who has a panic attack.
I liked the way that they parodied all the classic gangster movies and the fact that DeNiro was willing to send up some of his best roles in film.
Analyze This is a sporadically amusing mob comedy with Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal..
I like De Niro (who doesn't?), and Billy Crystal was wonderful (of course), but I think they should have given Lisa Kudrow more screen time.
Analyze This has Billy Crystal, in a movie that used him well, and Robert DeNiro, making light of his tough guy image.