Analyze That (R) ★★½

The team from the successful 1999 comedy Analyze This return for a second helping. Newly paroled gangster Paul Vitti turns to his trusty psychiatrist Dr. Sobel to keep him out of jail--and out of the mob.

Story

Analyze That starts off with mob boss Paul Vitti (Robert De Niro) nearing the end of his prison term in Sing Sing. When he realizes that a rival family has put a hit on him, he fakes craziness as a way out of the slammer. Vitti does this by singing the entire score to West Side Story over and over, belting out tunes such as ''Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night,'' in the middle of a riot in the prison cafeteria. With his parole date just a few weeks away, Vitti is released to his longtime shrink, Dr. Ben Sobel (Billy Crystal), whose father has just died. The film then follows Vitti as he tries to go the straight and narrow route rather than hitting people over the head with a baseball bat. Vitti ends up taking a token job as a consultant on a popular TV mob drama, Little Caesars, the perfect cover for him to get back into the business. Dr. Sobel, meanwhile, thinks he can cure Vitti of his organized crime affliction.

Acting

As Paul Vitti, De Niro gets to play a dangerous and charismatic character--something he is great at--but also gets to show off his comedic side. The musical sequences in Analyze That, with De Niro singing songs like ''I Feel Pretty'' from West Side Story, are by far some of the best moments in the film. It brings a nice dimension to his otherwise tough character. De Niro's Vitti is also a great counterbalance to Crystal's Dr. Sobel, a rather touchy-feely kind of guy. The two seasoned actors have spontaneity on screen that is hard to match. Friends star Lisa Kudrow resumes her role here as Laura Sobel, Dr. Sobel's wife, but her character is extremely untapped. She plays the ever-disapproving spouse at the beginning of the film, but seems to disappear halfway through with the exception of a few lines peppered here and there. Joe Viterelli is also back as Vitti's driver, Jelly. Viterelli does a wonderful job turning his typical thug character into a loveable badass who can still hustle, considering he is a little old and a tad out of shape.

Direction

Analyze That was written and directed by Harold Ramis, the comic genius behind Analyze This, Groundhog Day, National Lampoon's Vacation and Caddyshack. This second helping of Mafia comedy has just as many funny moments as the first, if not more, thanks in part to Crystal and De Niro. It's a shame Ramis didn't go further with De Niro's reincarnation of Tony from West Side Story. The story itself is a bit uninspired. In order to lead a Syndicate-free life, Vitti devises a plan to rob a federal gold depository truck and frame the city's two rival families. It's a good concept, but it is executed in a just a few scenes in the film's final moments. You get the impression someone came to the ''darn, it's time to wrap the film'' realization three-quarters of the way in. The mob theme also feels unoriginal because HBO has already exploited it to its fullest extent with The Sopranos. Ramis, however, succeeds in making Analyze That an authentic New York-based tale by shooting the film entirely in NYC.

Bottom Line

While very few sequels are able to match or surpass their first counterparts, Analyze That comes pretty close. What it lacks in storytelling, it makes up with great talent and loads of humor.