Analyze That
This 2002 sequel to the bland Analyze This actually manages to expand upon the one joke premise of the original, at times going all over the map to try to make something work, and actually squeezing some mild chuckles here and there. These ideas include DeNiroâs Paul Vitti at the beginning playing crazy in order to get an early release into the custody of his old shrink played by Billy Crystal (and allowing DeNiro to mug for the camera in unprecedented fashion); Having Cathy Moriarty (best known as Vickie LaMotta opposite DeNiro in Raging Bull) being brought in to play the new (female) crime boss that DeNiro must contend with; Having DeNiro and his old hoodlum friends go to work as âconsultantsâ on a Sopranos-like Mafia TV show and raising havoc as a result (this one actually gets some comic mileage); and having DeNiro in the third act suddenly become a walking parody of his legendary Neil Macaulay from Heat as he plans an intricate armored truck heist down to the last detail. All interesting ideas, sure, but also ones which seems to leave Crystal relegated to the sidelines most of the time with an unresolved subplot about having him start popping pills from the stress of having DeNiro living with him and keeping him in a peripheral role until heâs dragged along on the final heist where yet again, weâre subjected to him getting DeNiro to break down in tears, though this time itâs tolerable since he hasnât been doing it every other scene like the first time around. The main conflict revolves around somebody wanting DeNiro dead even though he has sworn off the mafia lifestyle and tries to make ends meet by working a series of dead end jobs (which also generates some amusement) all the while Moriarty wants him to either come back to work and / or give her a cut out of any deal he might be making, as apparently another turf war is on the horizon with another boss boringly played by Frank Gio. One sad thing to report is that Joe Viterelli (in his last role), who was one of the few bright spots in the first film as the sidekick Jelly, is given almost a nothing role here, getting a couple of funny lines handed his way but not nearly scoring as much as he did in the first film, and Lisa Kudrow still playing neurotic better than any other actress in the biz, gets her usual very cute moments of frustration as Crystalâs wife, but as Crystal himself doesnât have much to do, she gets even less. Which means of course, that DeNiro carries the majority of the film, and does very well doing so, outside of repeating the first filmâs unfunny âYouuuâ bits with Crystal, the dialogue contains some pretty good foul-mouthed zingers in particular one reference to tuna casserole, but the biggest and most unexpected laugh comes during a car chase and shootout involving Crystal throwing (of all things) a newspaper at the killers pursuing them. Overall, a rather interesting comedy sequel, that happens to be about a lot more than just a big tough gangster pouring out his feelings to a harried psychiatristâŚ
7/10