Analyze This (UK)
New York`s most powerful gangster is about to get in touch with his feelings
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 99 mins
Retail Price: £19.99
Release Date:
Content Type: Movie
Synopsis:
Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal team up with Lisa Kudrow, Chazz Palminteri and director/co-writer Harold Ramis to make you a comedy offer you can`t refuse in this laugh-out-loud mob hit.
De Niro, deftly spoofing the wiseguy roles that have been a staple of his estimable career, plays powerful New York crime family racketeer Paul Vitti. Crystal, always one joke ahead of sleeping with the fishes, is shrink Ben Sobel, who has just days to resolve Vitti`s emotional crisis and turn him into a happy, well-adjusted gangster.
Yes, Sobel is a family psychiatrist. But surely this isn`t the kind of family he had in mind.
Special Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Out-takes/Gag reel
Audio commentary by Billy Crystal and Robert De Niro
Video Tracks:
Pan & Scan 1.33:1
Widescreen Letterbox 1.85:1
Audio Tracks:
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Subtitle Tracks:
Romanian
English
CC: English
Arabic
Bulgarian
Directed By:
Harold Ramis
Written By:
Harold Ramis
Peter Tolan
Ken Lonergan
Starring:
Lisa Kudrow
Billy Crystal
Robert De Niro
Casting By:
Laura Rosenthal
Ellen Chenoweth
Soundtrack By:
Howard Shore
Director of Photography:
Stuart Dryburgh
Editor:
Christopher Tellefsen
Costume Designer:
Aude Bronson-Howard
Production Designer:
Wynn Thomas
Producer:
Paula Weinstein
Jane Rosenthal
Suzanne Herrington
Billy Crystal
Len Amato
Executive Producer:
Chris Brigham
Bruce Berman
Distributor:
Warner Bros
Your Opinions and Comments
It is funny in a subtle and not-so-subtle manners. :)
The acting by the two leads is great.
The video transfer is great (both 1.85:1 and 1.33:1).
The DD 5.1 audio is also very nice and surprisingly effective (for a comedy of that sort).
All of the extra features really add up to this cool and fun movie.
Go for it. :)
What makes "Analyze This" stand out among other comedies is the fact that it brings a lot of credibility to the table from the get-go. We all have seen DeNiro in his phenomenal portrayals of cold-blooded mobsters, killers and maniacs, and without further explanation we buy into the fatalistic premise that he is heading a Mafia 'family'. But when he starts showing his feelings "Analyze This" turns into a remarkable self-parody that never gets shallow. The characters remain very realistic, dangerous and dimensional, and writer and director Harold Ramis manages to also add amusing elements to these personalities that create a stark contrast to their public images. In the end you find yourself watching a film that is as intelligent and funny as it can get. The reason it works is that many of the characters in the film are played perfectly straight and dead serious while being intrinsically funny. Mobster Primo Sindone, magnificently played by Chazz Palminteri, for example tries to find a movie to watch in a theater and mutters "…all they have is this shoot-em-up action bullshit. I get enough of that at work…" In another scene he instructs one of his bodyguards "You get a dictionary and find out what this closure is. If that's what he wants to hit us with, I want to know what it is." It is this kind of sarcastic observation and dead-on mockery that make "Analyze This" such a refreshing experience. But even your dumb folded characters like Jelly who is played by a great Joe Viterelli have a layer of realism and personality that makes them appear very human.
"Analyze This" is wickedly funny and it is wickedly intelligent. Without slapstick, the film works purely on an intellectual level, toying with clichés and familiar stereotypes to create its may funny moments. The dialogue is some of the best written in the past years and it makes you cling to the actors' mouths in anticipation of what it could be they say next, and especially the delivery of those lines is remarkable. Not in a long time have I enjoyed a new comedy as thoroughly as this one. It is a milestone achievement and to me it is an instant classic.