Directed by Harold Ramis
Written by Ken Lonergan, Harold Ramis & Peter Tolan
Starring Robert DeNiro, Billy Crystal, Lisa Kudrow, Chazz Palminteri, Joe Viterelli
My Advice: Wait and Rent It.
Dr. Ben Sobel (Crystal) seems to have a pretty decent life. He's about to get married to the beautiful television reporter Laura (Kudrow) and maybe just maybe he'll someday be able to get over the throwaway character plot he was given, that'll he never get out of his father's shadow (Bill Macy). Enter Paul Vitti (DeNiro), a mob boss who has anxiety attacks. He has to get better quickly or else his rival Primo Sindone (Palminteri) is going to solve all his problems permanently.
The schtick is easily recognizable: get DeNiro to play "out of type" against Crystal's hilarity. And for the most part it works. Both of them get through the film fairly well, though for DeNiro "out of type" acting the film doesn't hold a candle to the DeNiro/Murray match up in Mad Dog and Glory a while back. Kudrow brings nothing whatsoever to a thankless role--it could have been filled by any actress. The role that I felt was executed best was Viterelli as the goon Jelly, a self-proclaimed moron.
It's hard to imagine with Crystal and DeNiro that you can go wrong, but the script gets tired very quickly. Every time Vitti wants a session, he sends Jelly to kidnap Dr. Sobel. The only thing that gets older than this is DeNiro's "You've got a gift...yes you do...yes you do!" exchange, which happens at least thirty times. And most disappointing is a scene where Crystal has to act like a mob consigaligalary but the lines simply aren't funny enough to affect a decent payoff. Unevenly funny, it just doesn't reach the level of hilarity it could and should have. Save a few bucks and watch it at home.