Rare is the good sequel; rarer yet is the good comedy sequel (the first person to say "Austin Powers" gets slapped). But Analyze That -- will the inevitable part 3 be called Analyze the Other? -- easily tops its predecessor. It's still formulaic, which is no surprise. But no longer is the film forced to spend endless minutes spelling out a character relationship that we already know simply by looking at the poster or even by coming into a theater with any previous knowledge of the sorts of characters De Niro and Billy Crystal usually play.
If we are to assume that real time has elapsed between the films (and the aging of teenager Kyle Sabihy, as Crystal's son, would indicate that it has), then De Niro's Paul Vitti has been in jail three years instead of the 18 months to which he was sentenced. Billy Crystal's Ben Sobel, meanwhile, inhabits a different house, minus the elaborate fountain given to him by Vitti. Fortunately, the filmmakers realized that the supporting cast played a large part in the first film's appeal, so Lisa Kudrow is back with a few more good lines, as is Joe Viterelli as the hilariously deadpan henchman Jelly.
After an apparent psychotic breakdown, which induces the singing of many West Side Story tunes, Vitti is released into Dr. Sobel's custody in the hope of bringing him back to relative sanity in time for a parole hearing. Needless to say -- since every TV and theatrical trailer already has -- Vitti is faking and simply wants out of jail to find out who's trying to kill him. While doing so, however, he must live at Sobel's house and get a legitimate job, all while trying not to freak out the good doctor's uptight family.
In a jab at that other "mobster in therapy" cult favorite, Vitti ends up getting a job as a consultant on a hard-edged mafia TV show titled Little Caesar (the logo is unmistakably familiar, with a gun for an l, similar to The Sopranos' r). Though it seems a little funky to implicitly criticize the HBO show for being inauthentic, as this movie and its predecessor were hardly cinema vérité, there are some good laughs to be had from an uncredited Anthony LaPaglia, more or less playing himself as an Italian-Australian cast as a New Jersey mobster.
In an apparent attempt to create yet another catch phrase beginning with "You," De Niro endlessly milks his trademark line from the first film, "You! You're good, you." Expect it on T-shirts any day now. But, as if it need be said, he's no Mike Myers and doesn't coast simply on repetition. In the film's standout scene, De Niro as Vitti pretends to be catatonic as Crystal, normally restrained in these films, unleashes his full barrage of comic improvisation in an attempt to expose the fraudulence of Vitti's emotional paralysis. Bravely stone-faced throughout, De Niro emerges with comedic credentials fully intact -- outtakes over the end credits demonstrate just how hard it was for him to stay somber.
That this sequel has less of a story than the first is actually a good thing -- the forced structure that was almost groan-inducing the first time around gives way to a more playful, anything-can-happen vibe. Sure, it'd still be fun if De Niro would do a good serious flick every once in a while. But in the meantime, this, or rather That, isn't bad.
