Analyze This
1999
***½
Director: Harold Ramis
Cast: Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, Lisa Kudrow, Chazz Palminteri, Joe Viterelli, Molly Shannon, Kyle Sabihy, Kresh Novakovic, Frank Pellegrino, Aida Turturro
When a powerful New York mob boss begins to suffer from panic attacks that threaten his authority and public image, he secretly seeks help from a psychiatrist whose own life is complicated by professional insecurity and an upcoming wedding. Robert De Niro, who has played gangsters in films like Goodfellas and Casino, delivers an amusing parody of these earlier roles in this enjoyable comedy. Billy Crystal provides terrific counterbalance as the shrink, who learns there is a fine line between patient confidentiality and personal safety. Lisa Kudrow gives an awkwardly sitcommy performance as his fiancée. Incidentally, The Sopranos (1999-2007) later took this concept much further on television. Followed by Analyze That in 2002.
