ANALYZE THIS

"Him, I don't know."

Back before we were married, many years ago, Judy and I used to enjoy a once a week movie night. I'd stop at the local Blockbuster (remember them?) and rent a fairly recent comedy for us to watch. On VHS. Judy hadn't yet made the transition to a DVD and there were still VHS tapes available for rent. I'd then proceed to her home in Elgin where we'd enjoy popcorn and a soda while we watched the movie. I usually picked a winner, but there were a few films that we didn't enjoy.

One of the movies I picked back then and one which we did like was ANALYZE THIS (1999). I recall getting some real belly laughs out of it. When I found a DVD of the film for two bucks at the thrift store, I knew I had to get it so we could enjoy it again. Judy and I have recently started a Friday night comedy movie night. We watched (and enjoyed) THE IN-LAWS (1979)  a couple of weeks back and last Friday evening, we laughed all the way through ANALYZE THIS. Again.

Robert De Niro is a gangster in need of therapy. Billy Crystal is the psychiatrist who, through a crazy series of events, finds himself counseling the anxiety ridden mobster. That's all the set up you really need because these two pros take the movie from there and run with it. Crystal is fine but the real treat here is De Niro, as the type of character you'd usually find him playing in a Martin Scorsese film. He's both a great gangster and a very funny man. There's also a great dream sequence that is copied shot for shot from Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece THE GODFATHER (1972).

Directed by Harold Ramis from a screenplay by Kenneth Lonergan, Peter Tolan and Ramis, ANALYZE THIS proved successful enough to warrant a sequel, ANALYZE THAT in 2002. I recall that Judy and I watched that one as well but I don't remember it being as funny as the first one.

ANALYZE THIS is a very funny movie and I highly recommend it. We enjoyed watching it again and I can't wait for our next movie night. I'm thinking we may have to revisit a certain Navin R. Johnson. Stay tuned.