22 lines
2.3 KiB
Plaintext
22 lines
2.3 KiB
Plaintext
it must be tough to be a mob boss .
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just ask paul vitti ( robert deniro ) , a man who finds his job as mafia head to be rather stress inducing .
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i can believe it , too - one can't even begin to fathom the turmoil he must go through when he's forced to choose between an ice pick , baseball bat or sledgehammer to torture victims with .
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suffering from reoccurring panic attacks , paul decides he needs to consult some professional help .
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and who better than billy crystal .
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after appearing in bottom-of-the-barrel flops , father's day and my giant , crystal finally finds a reliable costar and some very promising material here .
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playing vitti's private shrink , the two very different stars strike an unorthodox , but interesting relationship that carries this enjoyable comedy on a steady wave of laughs from start to finish .
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casting robert deniro as paul vitti is something of an in-joke , i think .
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placed in this mobster's shoes , deniro gets to spoof characters he himself played in films like the godfather , part ii and casino .
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it's obvious he's having a lot of fun doing so .
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the man behind the camera is harold ramis , whose credits include ghostbusters ( as writer and star ) , and his best directing effort , the bill murray vehicle , groundhog day .
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ramis has a knack for drawing laughs because he simply knows what's funny , and here he manages to accentuate the strengths of nearly all the actors .
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the only character who weakens the payoff is crystal's bride-to-be ( lisa kudrow ) .
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playing the same dumbed-down role as she does in friends , kudrow is amusing , but doesn't fit into this comedy mold as well as the director may have hoped .
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the supporting cast sparkles .
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joe viterelli is hilarious as jelly , vitti's pea brained right-hand man , and chazz palminteri is a show stopper playing a fellow mobster who's in desperate need of the definition of `closure' .
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the movie manages to maintain consistent chuckles throughout , putting the emphasis on 3 or 4 really big laughs that will have audiences grasping their sides .
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the situation is just too cute to resist .
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it's unfortunate that the language gets somewhat out of hand .
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but hey , if you're in the mafia , using obscenities probably comes naturally .
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and near the end , seeing billy crystal attempt to walk and talk like a mob boss is truly a special treat .
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