Mafia Blues 2 : La Rechute

Analyse This had a freshness and uniqueness of concept that carried right through the film and made it an enjoyable fluffy comedy. Analyse That falls very adeptly into the stereotype of the sequel that tries to emulate the original and fails miserably. The jokes are the same but somehow less funny, the new characters add nothing notable, Robert DeNiro seemed lost and unsure of his character, Billy Crystal was just plain annoying at times and the story was alternately ridiculous and pedantic. Are we really supposed to be curious about whether or not he's going straight? And in the end, did he?

6 is actually a bit generous, consider it a 5.5 rounded up.

But that's just my two scents. ;)

Sequels rarely live up to the original, and this is no exception. It has its moments, as well as some laughs, but the original was better and funnier. I sort of liked it, but as I said... You might like it if you liked the original. ** out of ****

Analyze This had an element of novelty and a generous dose of humor. Lacking the novelty due to its sequelhood, Analyze That tries to compensate by making forays into the psyche of Dr. Ben Sobol (Billy Crystal) as well as a little more (very little) analysis of mobster Paul Vitti (Robert De Niro). The psychology angle is not given much time or emphasis, but I suppose director Harold Ramis should get a couple of points for making a token effort.

The film is pretty funny and worth seeing, but doesn't really offer us anything new. This is forgivable, though, because Crystal and De Niro are entertaining enough to carry the picture. Overall, I'd recommend it -- it's funny and watchable and the two leads are very good.

This sequel of the 1999 mob comedy "Analyze This" has plenty to keep the viewers laughing, bemused, and sometimes shocked. It's no longer a tale of a sweet psychiatrist keeping a mafia don sober. On the contrary, it's the gangster who's showing his shrink the reality of the tough side to every human soul. Guess who's expected to be lying on the psychiatric couch? Yep, this film offers a fun ride to the psychology of the shrink! And it makes no apologies for pumping up enough guffaws to keep one's throat sore. It may not be the comedy for the puritanical grandmas and grand-papas, but face it, it's gangland - foul-mouthed, and rude gestures, vulgarities, et. al. Yep, Director Harold Ramis can't be accused of not injecting new flavor and spice to this sequel's characters! Nope, there's no way one can complain that it has the same old jokes. De Niro and Billy Crystal, and a cast of amusing actors are offering a new outlook on mob life and it's influence. There are demons lurking in every mind; there is the identity crisis to consider - even with the good, old professional folks.

The rise of the producing team of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun, Flashdance and sundry other subtle works exploring the deepest secrets of the human heart) in the 1980s introduced the High Concept movie - one whose premise and entire raison d'être could be summed up in a single sentence, preferably referring to other hit movies – for example Days of Thunder was `Top Gun with cars.' 1999's Analyse This may have been a High Concept movie – Mafia Don Sees Shrink With Hilarious Results – but it had a lightness of touch that made it seem less like a focus-group product and more like an offbeat little comedy.

Unfortunately for Analyse That, the success of The Sopranos has made Mafioso-psychiatrist relations almost as much a cliché as two cops, one steady and by the book and the other an impulsive maverick, who initially hate each other but bond over the course of several gun battles. More fundamentally, the concept of Analyse This hasn't been taken any further. There could be some entertainment to be had when Robert de Niro's character takes a job as an advisor on `Little Caesar', a Mafia-themed TV drama, but the main joke is that the actor playing the Don is an Australian. It struck me that both actors who played Don Corleone in The Godfather series have now taken the mickey out of the mafia – Brando in The Freshman and now de Niro in the Analyse This and That series (if there's a sequel, what will it be called? Analyse The Other?)

Lisa Kudrow is grossly underused – one gets the feeling that much of her part ended up on the cutting room floor. Both Crystal and de Niro are pretty good (this is called `damning with faint praise' in the trade, if you're wondering) There are some pleasing shots of New York, and David Holmes' soundtrack has its moments (although is nothing to his work for Ocean's Eleven or Out of Sight) Analyse That is not a bad film, just a rather forgettable one. Puts the `sleep' into `sleeps with the fishes.'