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A breezy, one-joke crime comedy that works because the cast commits hard: De Niro plays the mobster straight, Crystal plays the therapist with exasperated wit, and the movie keeps finding new ways to milk that contrast. It’s not deep, but it is sharp, easygoing, and often very funny if you enjoy gangster-movie… Read more
Where to watch: Buy
Fri · 1h 43m
Director: Harold Ramis
Starring: Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, Lisa Kudrow
Countless wiseguy films are spoofed in this film that centers on the neuroses and angst of a powerful Mafia racketeer who suffers from panic attacks. When Paul Vitti needs help dealing with his role in the "family," unlucky shrink Dr. Ben Sobel is given just days to resolve Vitti's emotional crisis and turn him into a happy, well-adjusted gangster.
Harold Ramis
Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, Lisa Kudrow
A breezy, one-joke crime comedy that works because the cast commits hard: De Niro plays the mobster straight, Crystal plays the therapist with exasperated wit, and the movie keeps finding new ways to milk that contrast. It’s not deep, but it is sharp, easygoing, and often very funny if you enjoy gangster-movie parody and star-driven banter.
Analyze This is a polished studio comedy built around a very simple but very effective idea: put a stone-faced mob boss in therapy and let Robert De Niro play the joke completely straight. The film’s pleasure comes from the friction between gangster menace and middle-class shrink-speak, with Billy Crystal serving as the increasingly frazzled straight man.
It’s a spoof of mob-movie seriousness, but it never feels mean or overly clever. Instead, it leans on timing, repetition, and the absurdity of watching a legendary tough-guy actor undercut his own image. The supporting cast helps keep the movie buoyant, and the New York crime-world setting gives the comedy a familiar, glossy texture.
The movie is lighter than its premise suggests, and that’s both its strength and its limitation. If you want a smart, easy crowd-pleaser with a strong central pairing, it delivers. If you’re hoping for real bite or deeper satire, it stays comfortably on the surface.
David Sims (3★) · 1231 likes
*Crystal and De Niro are at a funeral. A woman walks by and hugs Crystal* De Niro: The mother. *a younger woman hugs Crystal* De Niro: The daughter. *a man hugs Crystal* De Niro: The brother. *another man hugs Crystal twice, kisses him twice, then gives him a second long hug* De Niro: Him, I don't know.-reader, I laughed and laughed. salut
🤎jess🤎 (3★) · 733 likes
the godfather scene.....i have no words.
marie (3★) · 588 likes
i was fredo? i don’t think so
Ian West (3.5★) · 558 likes
Jelly was a national treasure.
DirkH (3★) · 541 likes
I'm convinced that most guys who love movies have at one point in their life stood in front of mirror and tried to do a 'DeNiro'. I have no shame in admitting I have done this on occasion. Now who'd expect DeNiro doing just that for a 100 minutes would be this much fun? Completely insubstantial and inconsequential, a one joke premise, but still a lot of fun. Bobby and Billy go really well together. It still remains a wonderfully bizarre coinkidinkie that this was released in the same year as the Sopranos.
A slick crime comedy that similarly turns genre expectations into the joke while keeping the dialogue sharp and the pacing brisk.
A mob-comedy with a great straight-man performance and a similar affection for gangster-movie iconography.
Pairs crime plotting with constant comic friction and a strong odd-couple dynamic.
Another late-90s mob-comedy built around an outsider getting swallowed by organized-crime absurdity.
For viewers who like crime-world absurdism, deadpan performances, and a comedy that plays genres against each other.
A classic ensemble crime comedy that balances caper mechanics with character-based farce.
Shares the same pleasure of watching a hostile, high-pressure situation turn into comic therapy-by-chaos.
The direct follow-up for anyone who wants more of the same therapist-and-mobster setup.
For the self-aware mob-movie angle and the fun of seeing crime-drama prestige turned slightly sideways.
A broad spoof of gangster epics with similar target material and a similarly joke-forward approach.
A crime comedy that leans on suburban-meets-underworld contrast and easygoing star chemistry.
Less overtly comic, but it shares the cool New York crime texture and a playful sense of genre style.
gangster parody, therapy and anxiety, identity crisis, masculinity, criminal underworld, fish-out-of-water comedy, New York crime world, role reversal
mafia comedy, crime spoof, therapy, panic attacks, fish-out-of-water, New York, buddy comedy, 1990s, deadpan humor, star vehicle