last year's mob comedy mafia ! didn't work very well , due to lack of a smart script and good acting . harold ramis' analyze this works in all the ways that mafia ! doesn't . analyze this tells the story of long island shrink ben sobel ( billy crystal ) , who one day gets into a car accident with a mobster nicknamed jelly ( joe viterelli ) and the trunk pops open , exposing a half-dead , tied up man . " you didn't see nothing , " jelly assures him . jelly's don , paul vitti ( robert de niro ) , keeps having panic attacks , and expresses the need to see a shrink to discuss " his friend . " jelly tells him about the one he ran into , and vitti pays him a visit . vitti seems to be losing his gangster mentality . he cries at corny commercials and can't find the will to kill a person anymore . vitti becomes so obsessed with becoming sane that he follows sobel to florida , where he is supposed to wed laura ( lisa kudrow ) . if put in the hands of other filmmakers , analyze this would become a mess . but director ramis ( groundhog day ) keeps things light , and gets great performances from both leads . billy crystal has found a role wothy of his comic presence , but the one who steals the show is undoubtedly de niro . the greatest actor of all time in my opinion , de niro shows an gives an exceptionally funny performance . in the film , he seems to be reprising all the mob characters he's ever played , and for that reason , de niro's vitti didn't need to be a very developed character , just a funny guy . analyze this also gives viewers the first chance ( i think ) to watch de niro cry . oh , if only word got out to the corleone family . . . there is nothing groundbreaking about analyze this , but it features a performance that any de niro fan should seek out . 
