Analyze This

Released By:

Warner Home Video

Features:

1999; 104 Min; Rated R; Dolby Digital 5.1 English; Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85) and Pan/Scan.

Extras:

Audio Commentaries: 1- Billy Crystal and Robert De Niro, 2 - Director Harold Ramis; "Gag Reel" Production Notes; Cast and Filmmakers' Biographies; Theatrical Trailer.

Review:

When I think about mobster movies over the past decade, only two names pop into my head, director Martin Scorsese, and  Robert De Niro. These two filmakers have created two of the most critically acclaimed mob movies (Goodfellas and Casino), this side of the Godfather. Sadly, I must admit, I've never seen the Godfather trilogy, I 'm waiting for the DVD's , which I will purchase on sheer principle. According to Billy Crystal's commentary, he instantly wanted to hire De Niro for this hilarious send up of the mob and psychologists.

Analyze This stars Billy Crystal as Ben Sobel, a psychologists, who is trying to balance his work, son and fiancee with questionable success. Robert De Niro is Paul Vitti, a tough as nails, and well known, New York mob boss, who is beginning to have some problems with how should I put it? Being a tough guy.

Early on in the film, there is a hit attempted on Vitti. Vitti can't bring himself to beat the crap out of one of his men (Max Cassella), that he believes set him up. Vitti's right hand man, Jelly (Joe Viterelli), must wrap up the situation for him. Sobel, during a small family crisis of his own, literally runs into Jelly on a city street. In an effort to straighten out the accident, Sobel wants to get a police report written up, which Jelly isn't very keen on. Sobel gives Jelly his card, and you can sort of guess what happens next.

Paul shows up, the next day, at Ben's office, and wants a quick fix for his problems. After convincing Vitti that he can't cure all that ails him in one fifteen minute session, Sobel must run off to Florida to get married. Eventually, Vitti drops in, uninvited, to resolve some other personal issues. This, along with the aerodynamic death of another hit man, delays Sobel's marriage to his fiancee, played by an under-used Lisa Kudrow. Not only does the stress of Vitti increase throughout the movie, but so does Sobel's, with hilarious results.

Analyze This is the spoof the mob genre has been waiting for. Harold Ramis, as usual, accurately leads this film through it's simple, but funny plot. Unlike Touchstone's Mafia from last year, Analyze This doesn't go for laughs by exaggerating everything, it's firmly grounded in realistic situations. This makes it a much more enjoyable movie. Don't get me wrong, I love over the top comedy, I just find it mouch more believable when one can relate reality to the situation.

The actual presentation of the disc is pretty good. The anamorphic print is above average for Warner's most recent efforts, but I guess it should be since it's a $25 disc. As for the sound of the disc, well... it's mixed nicely, but outside of chapters 25 and 32, when there are a couple shoot-outs, there is very little use of the surround sound channels. Considering the type of film this is, it wasn't needed.

When it comes to the extras of this disc, having two commentaries is awsome. I'll eventually listen to both commentaries, after I catch up on all the other movies sitting on my shelves. I've only gone through the first twenty minutes, or so, of the Billy Crystal/De Niro commentary. Actually, as far as I've gone through the commentary, I'm beginning to wonder if De Niro only speaks the one time near the beginning. So far, Billy Crystal's commentary has been fairly serious, not what I expected.

As for the other extras... Warner includes the token biographies and trailer for the film, much less than usual. The gag reel is a nice touch, but I wish it would have been longer. Guess we can't sacrifice the P/S for more extras, since joe six-pack doesn't understand letterboxing.

Analyze This is a great send up of the mob genre, plus it rips psychologists, it earns an 8 in my book.

The overall disc presentation ranks a 6, the dual commentaries are a great bonus.

Dan Linzmeier, FIT Productions
Fitprod@aol.com
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