analyze this ( m ) . ( warner bros/village roadshow ) director : harold ramis stars : robert de niro , billy crystal , lisa kudrow , chazz palminteri , joseph viterelli , kyle sahiby , leo rossi , richard castellano , bill macy , jimmie ray weeks , ira wheeler , tony bennett running time : 103 minutes . robert de niro lightens up slightly as he takes the mickey out of the sort of character he has specialised in playing during his thirty year film career . the mannerisms are the same , as is the intensity , but in this comedy from harold ramis ( groundhog day , etc ) they are given a comic spin . de niro plays paul vitti , a tough new york mobster who is having anxiety attacks . desperate to find a cure before a planned meeting between all the gangster families , vitti secretly seeks psychiatric help . the unlucky doctor is ben sobel ( billy crystal ) , a family therapist anxious to break out of the shadow of his more famous father , an up-market psychiatrist , best selling author and multi-media personality . although ben recognises the challenge in working with vitti , he is about to take a week off work and marry his fiancee ( friends' star lisa kudrow ) , a tv journalist . however , a powerful mobster like vitti doesn't easily take " no " for an answer , and ben's simple life is turned upside down . he becomes heavily involved in vitti's cut throat and violent world . this unusual premise works a treat under ramis' slick direction . there are plenty of superb one-liners and throw away visual gags , and even the homage to the godfather works beautifully . in one scene , ben tries to explain complex freudian concepts to the hot headed mobster . in another , vitti turns the tables on ben by probing his fears , thus proving that even gangsters have rare insights into human nature . de niro doesn't make many comedies ( the disappointing we're no angels is a rare exception ) , but he seems to be enjoying himself in a rare comic role that enables him to put a different spin on the type of character that he has made his own . in a welcome return to form , crystal holds his own against the volatile and intimidating de niro . kudrow , who added spark to the wonderful the opposite of sex , is given little to do as ben's fastidious fiancee . chazz palminteri ( the usual suspects , etc ) is also wasted in a small and increasingly familiar role as a tough gangster who'd rather exchange bullets than words . if anyone comes close to stealing the acting honours it is joe viterelli ( bullets over broadway , etc ) , who gives a wonderful performance as vitti's rotund body guard , the aptly named jelly . analyze this is a far cry from the mean streets that de niro ordinarily inhabits , but it is an interesting and entertaining diversion through less travelled territory for , arguably , america's greatest living screen actor . 
