Filmgoers may whack stale 'Analyze That'

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

ANALYZE THAT (R for profanity, implied sex) Two-and-a-Half Stars (Fair-to-Good) Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal reunite for a sequel to their hit comedy about a scary mobster and his milquetoast psychiatrist. Harold Ramis directs (again). Warner Bros., 98 minutes.

But it's not a good time for psychotherapist Ben Sobel (Billy Crystal); his father has just died and he's grieving.

Such things don't matter to the authorities. They want to release Vitti into Sobel's care. The reasons aren't clear; but logic isn't a strong suit in "Analyze That," the intermittently amusing sequel to the hit comedy, "Analyze This."

The real authorities, of course, are Hollywood producers, who know a good thing when they see box office returns. "Analyze This" was a smash, so the order goes out: Find a way to reunite Vitti and Sobel. More importantly, reunite De Niro and Crystal, along with the original director, Harold Ramis, and original co-stars Lisa Kudrow (as Sobel's long-suffering wife) and Joe Viterelli as Jelly, Vitti's teddy bear of a henchman.

Thus, "Analyze That" isn't one of those rare sequels that truly expands a story or stretches a character. It's merely a second helping for filmgoers who want more of the same.

That's why familiar gags generate the biggest laughs — particularly the moment when Vitti wiggles his finger at Sobel and says, "You. You're good. You're very good. Yes, you are."

The seemingly slapped-together narrative has Vitti using the insanity ruse to get out of the slammer because mob rivals are trying to kill him. He then tries to reassert his authority by organizing a major heist.

The talk between Vitti and Sobel mostly involve fathers — and how both men have used their adult lives to try to prove something to emotionally or physically absent dads. But such moments of sentimentality seem false.

And when Vitti is hired as an adviser for a TV show clearly modeled on "The Sopranos," the film fails to fulfill that idea's full potential. It generates a few laughs, but nothing like it should.

Fortunately, De Niro and Crystal still have comic chemistry — which is even more evident in the out-takes that accompany the end credits. De Niro's parody of his own mob persona was funnier when it was fresh — in the first film. But it still resonates.

Still, this particular bit of screen comedy has played out its string. Now that we've analyzed this and that, there's nothing left to analyze.

Rated R, profanity, implied sex.

On the web: http://analzethatmovie.warnerbros.com/teaser.html