Analyze This
I understand entirely why Warner Bros. approached Martin Scorsese to direct “Analyze This,” but I’m kind of grateful he turned it down. For this film to work, a comedic filmmaker was required to bring the humor out of the character of Paul Vitti, the gangster played by Robert DeNiro, as he goes through a bought of anxiety after his best friend is gunned down. Enter Harold Ramis, the director of “Caddyshack,” “Vacation” and “Groundhog Day,” and a filmmaker who understands how to subvert tropes and formula for comedic advantage, and how to lean in to them.
Watching this for the first time in about two decades, I had forgotten how much of this film plays almost like a straight gangster film, as Vitti narrates the story of a 1957 meeting between the heads of all the crime families that his father was a part of, and was infamous in how it ended. He was without his father for a long period of time, and now, he is one of the people in charge of one of the most important crime families in New York. He’s having lunch with his consigliere, Dominic, discussing another meeting when a drive by occurs, killing Dominic, and barely missing Vitti. As the meeting gets closer, Vitti begins to have anxiety attacks. As it turns out, however, his new consigliere, Jelly (played by the wonderful Joe Viterelli), happened to run into a therapist, Dr. Ben Sobel (Billy Crystal) who ran into his car, and isn’t feeling challenged by his patients right now. His patience with Vitti, however, is going to be challenged as Paul brings his lifestyle into the middle of Ben’s life, just as Ben is getting ready to marry Laura (Lisa Kudrow).
It was actually kind of interesting to rewatch this movie after having been in therapy for over a decade for anxiety and depression. The ways that Vitti gives undue credit to Ben as he begins to open up to him, while Ben just lets him, as he thinks he’s gotten better after a few minutes, while Ben tries to tell him that more time, and more openness is required, feels very relatable to how, if you haven’t really been in therapy, you don’t understand how therapy works. That’s the most important dynamic in the film, and gives DeNiro and Crystal fantastic material to play off of, because these two are fully-realized characters, and there’s a truth to both of them that comes out. I couldn’t help but think of Frank Oz’s wonderful “What About Bob?” and liken Vitti to Bill Murray’s Bob, who is the definition of a patient crossing the line in how they insert themselves into the therapist’s life. What makes the comedy work is that the movie takes the process of therapy seriously, just as it takes the crime aspects of the film seriously, and there are lines and moments in this film that are simply hilarious, while flowing naturally out of the characters and situations. That comes from the fact that, when Ramis is in peak form, and has material that is smart on its subject, the results are the makings of a classic film comedy.
