Analyze This

***½

Okay, I was gonna whack you. But I was real conflicted about it.

Ah the good old days of 1999. I remember when Robert De Niro was justifiably recognized as an excellent actor. Having yet to cash in on his gangster persona, he plays it mostly straight in this self-parody. Opposite of him is Billy Crystal, as the nebbish psychiatrist. I love Billy Crystal and wish that he had gotten more opportunities to showcase his prodigious comedic talent. Neither actor really went on to do much after this film, although they are both still alive and could conceivably do something else of merit. But why bother? Each has had a great deal of success and earned enough to retire comfortably. That is true for the director as well. I do not know Harold Ramis’s financial status, but with Caddyshack and Ghostbusters on his résumé he does not need to direct anything else.

Moving past the stars—which is not fair of me since Lisa Ludrow, Chazz Palminteri and Joe Viterelli are all very good—to something more important: the fashion choices of the late 1990’s mafia. For some reason they seemed to be shopping at the same stores that the guys in Goodfellas frequented, but only selecting shinier suits. While Billy Crystal looks funny in his ill-fitting double-breasted suit at the mobster summit, he was already wearing a nice suit when he got in the car.

Why bother having him change?

Why did they all wear such oddly collared button down shirts, also from that time period?

Yes, that is De Niro, who showcased shirts theretofore never seen on human beings, mafiosos and Florida retirees included.

The outfits did not really take me out of the movie, but they did seem to be noteworthy. I wish that I had this on DVD AND a computer that could take screenshots. Hopefully the above pictures do the job. So let’s toast to the last good movie that Crystal and/or De Niro made. Well, unless you count the sequel Analyze That…