ANALYZE THIS

(March 1999, U.S.)

Short of watching one of those Zucker-directed spoof comedies, ANALYZE THIS is a comedy where the laughs never let up, even when it tries to be a little serious or emotional. I mean, how can you possibly take the concept of Robert DeNiro playing a crime boss who needs psychiatric treatment from a guy like Billy Crystal seriously even for one minute? Everytime the two of them speak to each other, you find a new reason to laugh. And with a track record like CADDYSHACK (1980), VACATION (1983) and GROUNDHOG DAY (1993), you know you're bound to laugh at almost any Harold Ramis film.

Actually, take note of the word SPEAK in my previous sentence. I have always enjoyed comedy that relies on dialogue and wit as opposed to physical comedy and slapstick. One is likely to rememeber something a guy like Groucho Marx SAID in a film instead of cliche pitfall or something. Unfortunately, having to hear someone like Lisa Kudrow speak in anything she does on film requires a great deal of patience. Frankly, I don't care how smart she is or how many degrees she supposedly has, she'll always sound like ditzy Phoebe Buffay to me.

And now, with your patience, a more personal story related to this film...in August 2000, I attended a two-day Hollywood pitch seminar in Los Angeles. What this means, basically, is that you spend two days standing on long lines waiting to pitch your screenplay ideas in just five minutes to someone in the film industry who will pretend to be interested in what you're telling him and give you the kind of encouragement that sounds good at the table - when in reality, you're never going to hear from this son-of-a-bitch as long as either of you live.

(Wow, that was deep!)

Anyway, the best part of the seminar for me was meeting a group of guys like me waiting on the long lines. It wasn't long before we were laughing and bullshiting with each other like it was summer camp. It also wasn't long before we found ourselves quoting lines from ANALYZE THIS and constantly pointing fingers at each other and saying, "You, you, you're good, you!" When it was all over, I didn't exactly have Hollywood scrambling to option my screenplays. What I did walk away with was an idea for a screen story and an email friendship that I have kept up for the last ten years with a fellow screenwriter and novelist I'll call John (because that's actually his name).

And so, it is to John that I dedicate this post. Thank you for ten years of friendship and support in our writing endeavors. Here's to the next ten, buddy!

Favorite line or dialogue:

Paul Vitti: "Oh, just one more thing - if I talk to you and you turn me into a fag, I'm gonna kill you, you understand?"
Ben Sobel: "Could we define fag? Because some feelings may come up..."
Paul: "I go fag, you die. Got it?"
Ben: "Got it."
Paul: "Simple. Heh?"