Analyze This (1999) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Harold Ramis

Starring:   Billy Crystal, Robert DeNiro, Lisa Kudrow, Chazz Palminteri, Joe Viterelli, Pat Cooper

Analyze This has funny moments, but never gels into a satisfying whole.    Crystal and DeNiro play well off of each other.    The fact that we like them goes a long way.    The idea of a mobster seeking therapy from a psychiatrist was also covered in The Sopranos, but Analyze This is a comedy.    This material may actually work better as drama.   

Things are tough for mob boss Paul Vitti (DeNiro), who suddenly finds himself having panic attacks and losing his nerve to kill people he wouldn't have thought twice about killing before.    Paul crosses paths with the shrink Ben Sobol (Crystal), whose clients are mostly sexually frustrated housewives.     At first, Ben doesn't want to treat the high-profile mobster, but thinks he may be able to help after witnessing one of Paul's sudden outbursts of crying.    Also, Paul makes Ben an offer he can't refuse (or shouldn't) with one stipulation.   "If I turn gay, you're dead." 

Paul becomes a demanding client.    He sends his right-hand man Jelly (Viterelli) to wake Ben up in the middle of the night and even interrupting Ben's wedding to Laura (Kudrow) in order to secure a session.     Paul is hoping to have his issues cleared up before a big meeting with the nation's mob bosses in two weeks.     He obviously has little notion of how psychotherapy works.     When Ben explains the Oedipus Complex to Paul, Paul says, "Have you seen my mother?"

Most of the humor in Analyze This is evoked from the personalities of Paul and Ben.    Ben is forever exasperated by Paul's intrusions, while Paul may be out of his league trying to apply Ben's advice.    Paul's phone call to his heated rival Primo (Palminteri) using touchy-feely speak is very funny.   Their relationship remains good-natured despite their differences.    Paul's breakthrough comes during a shootout with rival gangsters and this is a surprisingly emotional scene.    And Jelly is always lurking around, doing his boss' bidding because he actually cares about the guy. 

With all that being said, Analyze This never comes together into a satisfying experience.    There are laughs, but not enough.    Kudrow is hardly used except to be put off by Ben's sudden departures at the oddest times.     There is a general tide of goofiness that carries the film along, but despite its strengths, it was a near-miss.    Kind of like when Ben has to fire a gun.