As a huge fan of mob movies, in particular those that star Deniro, it was fun to see a faithful send-up of the genre with a genuinely good premise and great acting. Deniro has done some real doozies in the past decade or so, but he always shines in anything mob-like. His last quasi-comedic performance was in "Jackie Brown" but he basically mumbled through the entire event. That leaves one of his best, memorable comedic performance as "The King of Comedy", circa 1980 until "Analyze This", a close second. The supporting cast his hilarious too, Crystal, Palmentieri (also always great in Mob roles ) and the guy who plays "Jelly" - all spot on. In addition, all of the cameos (many who are familiar faces in dramatic mob movies) appear to revel in their roles.
I thoroughly enjoyed this film! Directed by the talented Harold Ramis (remember him from Second City TV?), the film stars Billy Crystal and Robert De Niro. Crystal plays psychiatrist Dr.Ben Sobel, and De Niro plays gangster Paul Vitti who demands Sobel's help to prevent panic attacks. Another reviewer mentioned the frequent use of profanity, which I personally did not find offensive, but because of the language this is definitely not a family film. The outtakes are very funny and makes you wonder how this crew was able to complete filming! I tend to watch my favorite films over and over again, and I've seen this one five times.
A likable movie with a good storyline. De Niro seems to be giving it about 50%, just playing along with his character. It is mindless and shallow work for him. Billy Crystal gives a good performance as the shrink. I didn't get the son, or the girlfriend (Lisa Kudrow) - who is a polar opposite match to Mr. Crystal. There was no chemistry between them. The props and gags were way overdone. Still there are some cute scenes and a few laughs to be had.
Superb acting and plenty of laughs; DeNiro is great as usual; 1st time Crystal viewer, but I was very pleased with his performance; his reputation is well earned. I bought the DVD because I have never been disappointed with a DeNiro movie.
The funniest part of this movie was the end when Billy Crystal had to fill in for Robert DeNiro at the meeting with the Mafia heads. He did his best trying to fit in, and when it was his turn to speak, he slapped the hell out of Robert DeNiro's friend. It was the funniest thing!!!
I went to couple of places to get that movie, but was unable to get the movie..i try Ebay and was able to come up with the movie the very next day...thank you ebay proud to be member of your company...
The language is horrible. If they removed the F... word the movie would only be a 30 minute movie. This is a great comedy would be excellent family entertainment if the language was not so horrible.
Not as good as the first one - but this movie was sooo funny!! We were laughing from start to finish....Robert Deniro was GREAT in this. 100% going into my collecton!