Genre-defining crime dramas, thrillers, and comedies have marked Robert De Niro’s storied acting career. The latter is especially true when the Oscar-winning icon scored laugh-out-loud hits such as Midnight Run and Mad Dog and Glory that brought gritty humor to dangerous scenarios. Such was not the case, however, for the overlong gag fest known as Analyze This. The 1999 crime comedy directed by the legendary Harold Ramis (National Lampoon’s Vacation, Groundhog Day) was a surprise hit upon release, grossing $176 million worldwide and earning a 69% favorable rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The tale of De Niro’s stressed-out gangster confronting his issues with the help of Billy Crystal’s dry psychiatrist was released just two months after HBO aired the pilot episode of a similar crisis of conscience tale, The Sopranos. Unlike the morally complex crime drama that ran for six seasons, Analyze This is nothing more than a glorified sitcom episode with little replay value.
The Premise of ‘Analyze This’ Runs Out of Steam Fast
The hook of Analyze This goes further than the ‘patient from hell’ angle that What About Bob? did so well. There’s a clear juxtaposition between the worlds of Paul Vitti (De Niro) and Dr. Ben Sobel (Crystal). The mob boss is constantly on edge with his enemies gunning after him, including his rival Primo Sidone (Chazz Palminteri). Meanwhile, the psychiatrist has anxiety about getting married a second time to his much younger wife Laura (Lisa Kudrow), and finds no fulfillment in helping patients. Once they come together, the two men are immediately taken out of their comfort zone and have self-revelations about the state of their lives.
Initially, the pairing of De Niro and Crystal had promise in delivering the laughs. De Niro satirizes the typical gangster persona he displayed in Goodfellas and Casino. Crystal aims for his midlife crisis New Yorker type seen in the hit films When Harry Met Sally… and City Slickers. While Crystal works fine for the even-tempered Ben with occasional outbursts, De Niro’s performance is where Analyze This quickly loses its appeal fast. Their first therapy session, in which Paul claims he’s there to see about “a friend” getting help, sets the tone for their push-and-pull dynamic. Though later session scenes push the plot along and reveal more about Paul’s backstory, there’s no real change in shaking up De Niro’s persona beyond his constant teary breakdowns. Even Paul’s memorable “you’re good” line becomes incredibly redundant by the time Analyze This reaches its end.
‘Analyze This’ Leans Too Hard on Mob Gimmicks for Laughs
Though De Niro had success in playing unique character types in comedies like the bounty hunter in Midnight Run or the ex-CIA father in Meet the Parents, De Niro does not put a lot of effort into elevating Paul past his two-dimensional characterization. Either he plays tough to poke fun at himself or suffers comedic panic attacks to show he’s not as tough as he looks. Outside of Crystal’s presence, none of the other characters’ relationships bring anything different out of him. Additionally, the uninteresting B-plot of his rivalry with Primo plays like every other mob drama with nothing unique to add to a movie intended as a send-up of the genre that De Niro helped to popularize.
Outside the session scenes, director Ramis relies on mob movie stereotypes and tropes executed in a parody manner. Most of Ben’s encounters with Paul and his gang involve some comedic reference to getting whacked. Other times, the film tries to get laughs through violence, including Ben in a head-on collision with a mob vehicle carrying a dead body, Paul shooting a pillow for stress relief, and the climax where Crystal poses as a consigliere during a meeting of the families. The screenplay for Analyze This does not subvert the clichés but rather dials them up for laughs, making the Italian gangsters appear as pasta-eating thugs with no filter.
As talented as Ramis was as a comedy director with Vacation, Groundhog Day, and Caddyshack, he struggles with balancing a tone between slapstick comedy and treating the mob elements as something more grounded than stupid. Martin Brest proved his genius directing De Niro in Midnight Run because he had the actor playing to the authenticity of bounty hunter life and found a straight-man dynamic with Charles Grodin as his on-screen partner. The peril they were put through on the road created comedic situations that never felt downright silly. Analyze This, however, is a full-blown farce built around cardboard cut-out characters put into scenes echoing Saturday Night Live sketches. At the end of the day, Analyze This is really a novelty comedy that seems funny on the surface. Its 2002 sequel Analyze That only reinforced the idea that a singular joke can go way too long before the audience stops laughing.
