| Taking its best potshots at Freud and the films that made Robert De Niro famous, we can only hope that Analyze That fails to deliver enough shrink-mobster yuks to allow the possibility of "Analyze That, Again."
As benign and idiotic as its predecessor, Analyze This, this middling comedy has a few enjoyable gags but, for the most part, struggles to locate any decent story to hang its premise on – or any new jokes to warrant its existence.
The muddled writers have patched together a half-cracked scenario in which De Niro’s gruff but lovable Don is released from prison into the neurotic arms of his former shrink, played again by Billy Crystal.
Now, living in a posh Westchester suburb with his bitchy but lovable wife (Lisa Kudrow) and his hefty teenage son, Crystal volunteers to watch over the former mob boss, who has apparently suffered a sudden psychosis from the stress of prison life. Who knew insanity was valid ground for release from prison?
Apparently everyone but Crystal’s shrink, since the sudden release is, in actuality, a stunt by the police to stir up activity between the two warring mob families and put more wise guys behind bars.
Back on "the outside," De Niro’s rough and tumble I-talian mobster attempts to follow the straight and narrow, with free therapy sessions from his shrink and legal guardian as an added bonus. Dropping in like the house guest from hell, De Niro provides the richest material in the film in this early segment. Revealing himself in his bathrobe to Crystal’s elderly relatives and keeping the family awake with a noisy late-night visit from a hooker, the mobster-shrink fare is played best on domestic turf.
But, as the aging boss makes one last attempt to get in the family way, the film falls into a laugh-less downward spiral. When De Niro is hired to serve as the expert on a trite mafia show called "Little Caesar," the picture loses its wayward focus entirely. Pilfering bad jokes about cheap cinematic mobster knock-offs (a questionable thing to mock in a film like this), De Niro sits around and does a whole lot of nothing.
And when the action turns to the heist De Niro has planned, the comedy hits rock bottom – with Crystal pummelling a mobster while delivering lines about tough therapy.
Sadly under-utilizing Lisa Kudrow, who was undoubtedly one of the highlights of Analyze This, this pointless sequel delivers exactly what you’d expect – more tired mobster jokes and images of De Niro crying on Crystal’s shoulder.
If that sounds funny to you, eat your therapeutic heart out. |
