Analyze This (1999)
72%RT Audience Score: 62%
Awards & Nominations: 4 wins & 7 nominations
Analyze This is a satisfying comedy with great performances by De Niro and Crystal
Analyze This is like a pizza with too many toppings – it’s trying to be too many things at once. While there are some fresh jokes, it’s weighed down by tired mafia movie cliches. De Niro and Crystal make a decent comedy team, but the film misses the mark more often than not. It’s like therapy for the filmmakers themselves, but the real pleasure comes from watching De Niro poke fun at himself. Overall, it’s a light and occasionally hilarious piffle, but hardly a new idea.
Production Company(ies)
Film Nation Entertainment, Nostromo Pictures, Temple Hill Entertainment,
Distributor
Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Type
Streaming, Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Greenwich Studios – 12100 Ivan Tors Boulevard, Miami, Florida, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for language, a scene of sexuality and some violence
Year of Release
1999
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:DTS Dolby Digital SDDS
-
Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
-
Runtime:1h 43m
-
Language(s):English
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Mar 5, 1999 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 17, 1999
Genre(s)
Comedy
Keyword(s)
Analyze This, Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, Lisa Kudrow, Harold Ramis, Kenneth Lonergan, Peter Tolan, comedy, R rating, Warner Bros Pictures, Jane Rosenthal, Paula Weinstein, $106.8M box office, Dolby SR, DTS, Dolby Stereo, Surround, SDDS, Dolby A, Dolby Digital, flat aspect ratio, reviewed by David Hunter, Joe Morgenstern, Andrew Sarris, Geoff Andrew, Jeff Millar, Peter Rainer, Mike Massie, CSM Staff, Bill Gallo, Antonia Quirke, Alec B, Lucas M, Alex r, Brendan N
Worldwide gross: $176,885,658
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $317,514,688
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 473
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 34,625,375
US/Canada gross: $106,885,658
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $191,862,736
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 373
US/Canada opening weekend: $18,383,507
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $32,998,908
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 400
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $80,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $143,602,231
Production budget ranking: 232
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $77,329,801
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $96,582,656
ROI to date (est.): 44%
ROI ranking: 1,179
Billy Crystal – Dr. Ben Sobel
Lisa Kudrow – Laura MacNamara
Joe Viterelli – Jelly
Chazz Palminteri – Boss Primo Sidone
Joseph Rigano – Dominic Manetta
Director(s)
Harold Ramis
Writer(s)
Kenneth Lonergan, Peter Tolan, Peter Tolan, Harold Ramis, Kenneth Lonergan
Producer(s)
Jane Rosenthal, Paula Weinstein
Film Festivals
Tribeca, Cannes
Awards & Nominations
4 wins & 7 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (106) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (73) | Rotten (33)
Analyze This has multiple personalities and hits the audience with a few fresh jokes but far too many 1970s mafia movie cliches.
March 5, 2020
David Hunter
Hollywood Reporter
TOP CRITIC
Apart from some quick, deft strokes every now and then, the director’s comic style is as broad as the movie is shallow.
April 4, 2018
Joe Morgenstern
Wall Street Journal
TOP CRITIC
[De Niro and Crystal] would seem to be perfectly cast as this oddest of odd couples, but something has gone wrong with the comic chemistry.
April 27, 2007
Andrew Sarris
Observer
TOP CRITIC
The comedy is heavy and the use of the stars lazy and cliched…
June 24, 2006
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
What De Niro ends up doing is simply burlesquing himself, much as he would do if he were guest-hosting Saturday Night Live.
July 21, 2005
Jeff Millar
Houston Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
What we learn — yet again — is that potentially terrific comedies are often whacked by filmmakers who feel the need to spread a little therapy themselves.
August 7, 2004
Peter Rainer
New York Magazine/Vulture
TOP CRITIC
De Niro and Crystal make an effective comedy team, but overall the film misses its mark on more than one occasion.
September 9, 2020 | Rating: 6/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
The screenplay offers some hearty laughs if you can stand bursts of violence and language as foul as a Mafioso’s business agenda.
March 21, 2019 | Rating: 3/4
CSM Staff
Christian Science Monitor
Suffice to say that the real pleasures of Analyze This lie in the easy confidence with which De Niro savages himself.
March 21, 2019
Bill Gallo
New Times
The whole thing is very light and occasionally hilarious, but it’s hardly a new idea.
November 28, 2017
Antonia Quirke
Independent on Sunday
Thanks to three very strong writers…and the willpower of its leads, Analyze This turns out to be an amusing piffle. [Blu-ray]
May 28, 2010 | Rating: 3/4
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews
Sometimes very funny, but wears its sudden tone swings and flurries of profanities like a pair of cement shoes…
August 7, 2008 | Rating: 2/5
Mark Halverson
Sacramento News & Review…
Plot
Living in the shadow of his famous psychiatrist father, with multiple issues to deal with while getting ready to remarry, the New York City psychologist, Dr Ben Sobel, has one more problem to take care of, after a fender bender with the powerful mob boss, Paul Vitti. Secretly suffering from intense anxiety attacks that render him incapable of doing what he is best at, the notorious gangster decides to pay the good doctor a visit, hell-bent on resolving his deep-seated issues before the annual meeting of Big Apple’s Mafia Dons. Now, Ben has a pressing two-week deadline to come up with an effective solution, as his conflicted but dangerous patient takes no for an answer. Can Ben analyse this?
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Fresh Kernels says that Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal make an effective comedy team in Analyze This.
Harold-Ramis.jpg
