Analyze That

They are back, and Ben Sobel (Crystal) got more issues to deal with his patient who happens to be a Mob leader: Paul Vitti (De Niro). So folks Robert De Niro again with Billy Crystal, it turned out more fun then i expected, and I am hard to impress when it comes to sequels. Sequels often ruins the whole part of movie loving, in fact i couldn't imagine a sequel of ...on the top of my head "The Shawshank redemption" that would really make me angry. Anyway i could in no way say that this one is better than the first one, in fact it would be better if they just stopped after the first one, but actually this one was really funny (for a sequel), so it still gets 6/10 which is probably the highest vote for a sequel given by me...

Analyze This had an element of novelty and a generous dose of humor. Lacking the novelty due to its sequelhood, Analyze That tries to compensate by making forays into the psyche of Dr. Ben Sobol (Billy Crystal) as well as a little more (very little) analysis of mobster Paul Vitti (Robert De Niro). The psychology angle is not given much time or emphasis, but I suppose director Harold Ramis should get a couple of points for making a token effort.

The film is pretty funny and worth seeing, but doesn't really offer us anything new. This is forgivable, though, because Crystal and De Niro are entertaining enough to carry the picture. Overall, I'd recommend it -- it's funny and watchable and the two leads are very good.

Sequels rarely live up to the original, and this is no exception. It has its moments, as well as some laughs, but the original was better and funnier. I sort of liked it, but as I said... You might like it if you liked the original. ** out of ****

The rise of the producing team of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun, Flashdance and sundry other subtle works exploring the deepest secrets of the human heart) in the 1980s introduced the High Concept movie - one whose premise and entire raison d'être could be summed up in a single sentence, preferably referring to other hit movies – for example Days of Thunder was `Top Gun with cars.' 1999's Analyse This may have been a High Concept movie – Mafia Don Sees Shrink With Hilarious Results – but it had a lightness of touch that made it seem less like a focus-group product and more like an offbeat little comedy.

Unfortunately for Analyse That, the success of The Sopranos has made Mafioso-psychiatrist relations almost as much a cliché as two cops, one steady and by the book and the other an impulsive maverick, who initially hate each other but bond over the course of several gun battles. More fundamentally, the concept of Analyse This hasn't been taken any further. There could be some entertainment to be had when Robert de Niro's character takes a job as an advisor on `Little Caesar', a Mafia-themed TV drama, but the main joke is that the actor playing the Don is an Australian. It struck me that both actors who played Don Corleone in The Godfather series have now taken the mickey out of the mafia – Brando in The Freshman and now de Niro in the Analyse This and That series (if there's a sequel, what will it be called? Analyse The Other?)

Lisa Kudrow is grossly underused – one gets the feeling that much of her part ended up on the cutting room floor. Both Crystal and de Niro are pretty good (this is called `damning with faint praise' in the trade, if you're wondering) There are some pleasing shots of New York, and David Holmes' soundtrack has its moments (although is nothing to his work for Ocean's Eleven or Out of Sight) Analyse That is not a bad film, just a rather forgettable one. Puts the `sleep' into `sleeps with the fishes.'

"Analyze That", the first sequel to "Analyze This" is just more of the same. Of course, if you liked the original, that would be a good thing. If not...not. Crystal continues as the reluctant shrink while DeNiro continues a the mob boss with issues in this madcap attempt to capitalize on the success of "...This" by punching up "...That" with strippers, car chases, stunts, shootouts, etc. Enjoyable but, like most sequels, lacking the freshness of the original. (B-)