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 café, discussing their plans to attend a meeting involving the countries major crime bosses. One gangster goes back in the café 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
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 café, discussing their plans to attend a meeting involving the countries major crime bosses. One gangster goes back in the café 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