Analyze That (2003, DVD)

Genre: Comedy
Video: 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: English, French
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Length: 96 min
Rating: R
Release Date: 05/13/2003
Studio: Warner Home Video

Commentary: Feature commentary with director Harold Ramis
Documentaries: None
Featurettes: The Making of Analyze That
Biographies: Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, Lisa Kudrow, Joe Viterelli, Cathy Moriarty-Gentile, Peter Steinfeld, Harold Ramis
Interviews: None
Trailers/TV Spots: theatrical trailer
Alternate/Deleted Scenes: (gag scenes in closing credits)
Music Video: None
Other: M.A.D.E. a mobster analytical test (supposed to be funny but isn t)

Cast: Billy Crystal, Robert DeNiro, Lisa Kudrow, Joe Viterelli, Cathy Moriarty-Gentile
Written by: Peter Steinfeld, Harold Ramis, Peter Tolan
Produced by: Paula Weinsten, Jane Rosenthal
Directed by: Harold Ramis
Music: David Holmes

Summary:
Dr. Ben Sobel (Billy Crystal), after having done his best to counsel notorious mobster Paul Vitti (Robert De Niro) and help him overcome his anxiety is now faced with helping the mobster again. Vitti, beginning the movie in prison but with only a few weeks until his parole, has a contract on his head and he's scared. Feigning insanity, he is finally released into Sobel's care. Sobel is entrusted with this assignment by the FBI who is actually trying to set Vitti up believing he will recontact his old croons so they can bring them all down. Sobel, on the other hand, believes that Vitti is supposed to be reforming and therefore tries to help him find a job. He eventually lands one that works for him as a consultant on a mafia TV show (very Soprano's like), but is planning a massive heist on the side.

Of course, what we don't realize or perhaps Vitti doesn't realize, is that, with the help of Sobel - both physically and psychologically - Vitti's heist is going to turn into a scam that will rat out the people trying to kill him and end up putting them in jail - helping him, the FBI, and the new head of his mob family, Patti LoPresti (Cathy Moriarty).

My Comments:
Billy Crystal is funny; I don't believe anyone can argue that. Robert DeNiro, on the other hand, is fun to laugh at with the help of Billy Crystal. He doesn't really have the comedic touch, but teaming him up with Crystal, pioneered in Analyze This, seems to work just as well, if not better, in Analyze That.

The story is engaging for the most part, but definitely suffers from some serious slow time. Even though it is supposed to be funny, the time spent consulting on the TV show drags on and on. Perhaps this is understandable because Vitti needs time to develop his plan for the heist, but it really slows the movie to a crawl for a while.

The other part of the movie that just doesn't seem to work is the continual crying outbursts by both Vitti and Sobel. Sure, the movie is a comedy and perhaps, in a sense, this is frontier breaking work in having grown men crying on screen, but their crying comes across more as infant wailing then men expressing emotion. I felt it was just an odd mix of the actors trying to balance humor and seriousness because their psychological problems are supposed to be both at the same time - it just doesn't work.

Overall, the comedy makes up for the slow pace, but the movie isn't something special. It's funny, perhaps funnier than Analyze This because they learned what worked from the first one, but hopefully they will be content to let the series end with this one.

Image and Sound: The 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer is clear and mostly crisp. During the director s commentary Harold Ramis reveals that several of his shots were too soft and that they were later digitally enhanced. Nevertheless, the picture is generally very crisp and the colors are plenty vibrant. Perhaps the movie is darker than it need be at times, but overall the video is very good quality.

The sound is standard, but lacks much depth, likely because the majority of the movie is just dialogue with very little else going on in the background. There are plenty of language options, but no variation within categories you just get Dolby Digital 5.1 in English or French and that s it. It s definitely acceptable but doesn t stand out as exceptional.

The Extras: Not much here. There is a brief making of featurette and director s commentary, some short bios, a profiling game (not really) and the theatrical trailer. The making of featurette is short; the director s commentary offers some useful information, but Harold Ramis is not very exciting to listen to. The profiling game, is well, stupid. I don t know who would find that interesting or exciting, but I certainly didn t. Someone probably just came up with the idea and they had some extra space on the DVD so they put it on. I guess the necessary additional features are here, but there isn t anything beyond the basics.

Commentary: As noted above, the director s commentary by Harold Ramis (which is the only commentary) offers a lot of useful additional information as to the hows and whys of the finished product, but Harold Ramis just isn t that exciting to listen to. If they had included Billy Crystal as a second voice and had them work together on the commentary it would have livened things up and added another element to the commentary that would have offered more depth.

Final Words: This is a funny film with an acceptable story that lags at times but still delivers laughs. The special features of the DVD don t stand out, but the basics are there. If you liked the first one you ll probably find this one funny as well. Otherwise, probably not worth your time.