Analyze That has more bada bing than its lukewarm box office reception would lead you to expect. Analyze This (1999) had the advantage of a then-fresh idea--Robert De Niro as a neurotic mob boss seeking therapy with reluctant shrink Billy Crystal--but that idea's stale (and has been handled more authentically in The Sopranos), so this sequel relies on established chemistry and zesty dialogue that matches the original. There's nothing wrong with a retread when it's this funny, and De Niro's latter-day penchant for comedy suits him well when, as kingpin Paul Vitti, he lures Dr Sobel (Crystal) into a prison breakout scheme involving faked catatonia and West Side Story show tunes. The contrived plot involves Vitti's criminal comeback. Unfortunately, there's little room for Lisa Kudrow as Sobel's sarcastic wife, but De Niro's Raging Bull co-star Cathy Moriarty-Gentile is welcomed as a rival mob queen. You want a comedy masterpiece? Fuhgeddaboudit. You want 95 minutes of easy fun? It's right here... and don't miss those obligatory outtakes. --Jeff Shannon

Analyze That is not a good movie.Analyze This was not too hot either. It is only watchable due to Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal and eventually you grow tired of them and the predictability of it all.If you blink you may miss Lisa Kudrow though I suspect she was well paid for her efforts. The story of the heist was totally implausible.Also, I am wondering when Bobby De Niro will tackle a decent dramatic role again. He's not getting any younger and may regret doing all these comedies when all he is offered is Grandfather parts in Lassie movies. As for Billy Crystal, well he's always got The Oscars to fall back on. This barely got a cinema release in the UK. The DVD has special features including a documentary where the cast, director and producers tell you how funny it is though you are more likely to fall asleep than split your sides with laughter.A waste of time and talent!

this film in my opinion is superb it makes your side hurt throughout the whole film. for anyone who needs a laugh, is ill or bored this is the film for them. if your more serious then don't bother.

what i want to know is how did they manage to get an actual professional person to give this film the thumbs up on the cover???? obviously the bloke owed them a HUGE favour. this movie was about the worst thing that i've seen in living memory. not only not funny but downright embarrassing. paul vitti, who was frankly sexy in the earlier movie, was just a nasty, scungy sleaze in this one. in case the characters aren't bad enough this time around, you could drive a truck through the holes in the plot (if you could call that tripe a plot) .it just does not make sense. too stupid for words. seriously do not bother. i'd hate to have to say "i told you so!" - you've been warned!

I seriously wonder if the makers of Analyze That actually watched Analyze This before working on the sequel.

Of course this is a silly question because it was written and directed by Harold Ramis - the same person who wrote and directed Analyze This. So why, then, is the movie so horrible?
Robert DeNiro played a crime boss in the first film. By the end of the film, he had reformed himself and gone to prison. Never did we get the feeling he was a rude, crass jerk. Sure, he was a criminal but I don't recall him flashing a room full of people because he just didn't care. Billy Crystal, meanwhile, does more of his wincing and nervous act as he is once again saddled with a criminal patient but he doesn't seem to have grown. In face, he seems to have reverted to the person he was before Analyze This started because if that character arc was good once, it could be good again.
The problem with making sequels to mediocre movies is that the jokes were only marginally funny to begin with. By telling them again, they are no longer marginally funny, they are stale. When you start with stale jokes, you are unlikely to be able to add anything that will make the rest of the movie work. That is the undoing of Analyze That

My twenty one year old son is home from college for the summer, and, as it was raining out, he decided to rent some films from the local video place. Being a huge Robert De Niro fan and, having really enjoyed "Analyze This", the prequel to this film, he rented it, expecting a very funny film. We hunkered down to watch it together, waiting for the film to make us laugh. We had a very long wait.

It is hard to believe that Harold Ramis, the same director who successfully directed the very funny "Analyze This", as well as other successful comedic gems, such as "Groundhog Day" and "Bedazzled", could turn out such an unfunny clunker of a film. Ham handed, leaden, and obvious would best describe this effort. Of course, he is hampered by the material with which he had to work. There is only so much one can do with a script that is torpid, stupid, and just not funny. The director is lucky that he had such an excellent cast with which to work. Who knows how much worse this film would have fared in the hands of less talented and skillful actors.

Reprising their roles in "Analyze This", Robert De Niro, as Mob boss Paul Vitti, and Billy Crystal, as his reluctant shrink, Dr. Ben Sobel, do all they can to raise the material with which they had to work to another level. In the final analysis, they are unable to do so, and the film fails to deliver. In fact, the viewer ends up feeling almost embarrassed for them, so forced and contrived are their performances. They are simply not very funny.

The actual premise of the film is simple. Paul Vitti is in prison, on the cusp of completing his sentence, when he realizes someone is trying to kill him. He feigns insanity by singing show tunes and being seemingly catatonic, at times. The Feds call in Dr. Sobel, who is forced to take Vitti out of prison into his care and custody, with orders to get Vitti in shape for his parole board hearing and onto the straight and narrow. Once free, however, Vitti reveals to Dr. Sobel that his actions were merely part of a ruse to get out and discover who is trying to kill him.

Moving in with Dr. Sobel, Vitti disrupts the doctor's life. He fails to take to holding down a regular job, as he has socialization problems. When Vitti finally hooks up with a gig he can tolerate, as consultant to a TV series about a mob boss, he uses the job as a front for bringing his old crew together and finding out who is trying to ice him.

Lisa Kudrow, as Dr. Sobel's wife, is not given much with which to work, and the little material with which she has to work is not particularly funny. Cathy Moriarty, who once played De Niro's wife in "Raging Bull", the film about boxing great, Jake LaMotta, is teamed up with De Niro again. Looking none the worse for wear, she appears here as a rival mob boss. She, too, does the best she can do with the hand that she has been dealt. In fact, the only person in this film who is remotely funny is Anthony LaPaglia in the role of the mob boss on the television series for which Vitti is a consultant. Unfortunately, his is but a small role.

Still, this is a film that devoted Robert De Niro or Billy Crystal fans may wish to see. In that case, rent it rather than buy it.