Analyze This was sort of funny. Meet the Parents, how that was successful, much less worthy of a sequel, is beyond me. (Okay, I know the only care about the grosses and that’s why there’ll be a sequel.) But in Showtime they’ve finally found a way to really bring out Robert DeNiro’s comic touch. And the answer is…DeNiro doesn’t act funny. He doesn’t try to make the audience laugh. He plays it completely straight. And walks into lots and lots of Eddie Murphy straight lines. Plus, no offense to Ben Stiller, who is funny once in awhile, or Billy Crystal, who has been funny far more regularly, but the producers also found an excellent foil in Murphy. I was sitting in the theater laughing out loud throughout this movie.
Lately, Murphy really seems to have found his way (Shrek, Doctor Dolittle) after some initial brilliance (48 Hrs., Trading Places) and then a period wandering in the desert (Distinguished Gentleman, Harlem Nights, Vampire in Brooklyn). Rene Russo is the dead-on stereotype of a modern news producer. William Shatner continues to use his reputation as a punching bag; the bit where he shows Murphy and DeNiro how to use an eyebrow as the coup de grace in interviewing a perp is just perfect. Lawyer Johnnie Cochran does the same for his own self. DeNiro’s adopted daughter, Drena De Niro, does a sweet job as eyecandy assistant to Russo’s producer; one line even has her father asking her if she’s into a “Daddy thing.” Looking at her IMDB listing, this isn’t her first movie but most of her opportunities come in Dad’s films. Pedro Damián plays the main baddie and he understands the comic book timing perfectly.
Director Tom Dey follows up his Jackie Chan hit Shanghai Noon here and clearly Dey is a director to watch: two times at bat, two very funny movies. I assumed he was directing the currently in production Chan sequel, Shanghai Knights, but according to IMDB he’s not; David Dobkin who gave us the utterly pedestrian Clay Pigeons is helming that one. Oh well. Kudos too to writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, who also collaborated with Dey on Shanghai Noon. Key to their success is realizing that this is a perfect opportunity to make a cartoon, to bash all the conventions of cop movies. Think of Schwarzenneger’s Last Action Hero without the actual descent into fantasy. The main case our (of course) reluctant partners pursue is a brand new, amazingly deadly automatic chain gun. The gun is so big and so bad it can blow up police cars or level a small house with just a few rounds. Highly recommended!
BillSaysThis 