Film Analysis – Analyze This
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Analyze This
Analyze This is a hilarious, feel good movie about two men from different backgrounds living completely opposite lifestyles. Through a series of very funny, random and bizarre moments they form a memorable friendship together. The movie came to theatres in 1999, was directed by Harold Ramis and included a cast full of some of Hollywood’s brightest stars. It begins with two gangsters leaving a cafĩ, discussing their plans to attend a meeting involving the countries major crime bosses. One gangster goes back in the cafĩ to get a toothpick and at the same time the other gangster is killed from a drive-by shooting. The movie’s plot is based upon the surviving gangster seeking out a psychiatrist to help with his emotional distress and out of control lifestyle. Throughout the movie the relationship between doctor and gangster represent an example of a dyadic coalition, both characters form a relationship based on achieving a mutually desired goal (ch. 1, pg. 5). The same year that Analyze This showed its audience a new perception of organized crime figures, the HBO hit show The Sopranos also gained much of its success from the same formula.
Paul Vitti (Robert DeNiro) is suffering from recurring chest pains that happen suddenly and for no reason. Worried it could be signs of a heart attack he goes to the hospital with his right hand man Jelly (Joe Viterelli) to get a diagnosis. The doctor tells Vitti that his pains are actually panic attacks. Vitti doesn’t want to lose his tough gangster reputation among his men, he tells Jelly to keep his ailment a secret and to find him a cure. So Jelly takes him to a psychiatrist named Dr. Ben Sobel (Billy Crystal), who owns a small family practice. Dr. Sobel meets with Vitti and from the start is uneasy about who just walked into his office. Dr. Sobel knows exactly what Vitti is capable of from all the newspaper articles that have been written about him. And Dr. Sobel wants nothing to do with helping this gangster out. “When I got into family therapy, this was not the family I had in mind” he tells Vitti. Vitti uses intimidation and even comes very close to threatening Dr. Sobel life, when this doesn’t work he breaks down in tears and plays on Dr. Sobel’s softer side. Dr. Sobel responds to this with empathy and tries to understand emotionally what Vitti is experiencing, that if the panic attacks continue Vitti will become an emotionally weak, distressed crime boss that won’t be able to get respect from others (ch. 11, pg 245). Dr. Sobel reluctantly agrees to help Vitti with his therapy. He promises to start therapy the following week when he’ll return from Miami, where he is going to marry his fiancД© (Lisa Kudrow). Vitti’s panic attacks worsen by the hour, with desperation he leaves with Jelly to Miami and crashes Dr. Sobel’s wedding. The best part of the movie happens when Vitti shows up at Dr. Sobel’s hotel room in Miami, and requests an immediate therapy session. For therapy Dr. Sobel tells Vitti to hit a pillow when he is feeling angry. Vitti hoping that it may help, pulls out a gun and shoots a pillow, then with a look of relief tells Dr. Sobel that he feels better. In this movie the audience can see that both men have very different cultures and beliefs (ch 2). They also have developed negative stereotypes of each other, as a result they respond to their own classifications of one another and not the individual (ch. 2, pg. 49). The miscommunication resulting from their differences causes much conflict and deterioration in their relationship. Vitti releases his pent up hostility on Dr. Sobel by saying, “ Hey, I got news for you, you little two-bit prick, son-of-a-bitch, rat bastard you did nothing for me! Whatever you did the other day didn’t take! I’m still fucked up! You did NOTHING for me!” Dr. Sobel realizes that if he isn’t able to find a cure for Vitti that he may end up in the bottom of the sea with bricks tied to him. And is worried about how a relationship with a gangster