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______________ROBERT DE NIRO GETS THE LION'S SHARE OF LAUGHS _____IN HAROLD RAMIS' "ANALYZE THIS." BY STEPHANIE ZACHAREK | The premise of the Harold Ramis comedy "Analyze This" could be a clever one or a dopily predictable one, depending on how you look at it: Robert De Niro, an upper-echelon wise guy, seeks the help of analyst Billy Crystal to quell his panic attacks, ultimately becoming so dependent on him that he won't even allow him to leave town without tagging along. But what's wonderful about "Analyze This" is how little it gets hung up on its concept. Ramis has made a fleet, unself-conscious, eminently enjoyable picture, where one-liners carom merrily like stray bullets, and where there's casual ease, like the drape of a sharpster's trousers, in the rapport between its two stars. Part of the pleasure of it is the way it carries you along from joke to joke. It's a movie that just doesn't have to try too hard, a dem-dese-and-dose comedy that's also surprisingly -- and pleasingly -- light. "Analyze This" gets some of its kick from being knowingly self-referential. Crystal and De Niro are straight from central casting as a fast-talking, overeducated neurotic and a gruff but unassumingly well-meaning mobster. And Ramis milks the folklore of classic mobster pictures for all it's worth: There's a beautifully executed dream sequence that's a faithful parody of one of the most famous scenes in "The Godfather." But "Analyze This" doesn't coast on schtick. The screenplay -- by Ramis, Ken Lonergan and Peter Tolan -- is so crisp and the actors' timing so assured that even the most obvious, silliest jokes work well. (It's hard not to giggle when suave greaseball Chazz Palminteri, as the head of a mobster family that's at loggerheads with De Niro's, laments that there's nothing he wants to see at the movies: "It's all this shoot-'em-up action bullshit -- I get enough of that at work.") The plot unfolds as a series of loony gags: Ben Sobol (Crystal) and Paul Vitti (De Niro) meet when the car Ben's driving smacks into the one that's carrying Vitti and an "associate" who's gone astray: On impact, the trunk snaps open and a man's leg pops out. Their relationship evolves like a reluctant tango. "If I talk to you, and you turn me into a fag, I'm gonna kill you, OK?" Vitti asserts as the first ground rule of his treatment. And Ben blanches when, later, Vitti has a gargantuan marble fountain installed in his suburban backyard as a token of gratitude. Ramis works the relationship strictly for laughs, and sometimes they're the kind that bite. But "Analyze This" is essentially sweet-spirited. As a director (his previous credits include "Groundhog Day" and "Multiplicity") Ramis has developed a gift for making modern adult comedies that neither turn on the sap nor work overtime to hit all the funny buttons. What's more, "Analyze This" is one of those movies that just seems to work off a groovy vibe: All the actors are remarkably in sync. Crystal is so sharp he could volley a retort against a flicker of lightning. And there's a pleasing edge of nastiness to his performance, too. When a whiner of a patient ("Saturday Night Live's" Molly Shannon) whose ex wants nothing to do with her complains that Ben probably doesn't want to see her either, he snaps, "I'm going to see you next week, whereas Steve never wants to see you again." The supporting cast gives the picture lots of brightness around the edges. Lisa Kudrow plays Crystal's bubblehead-TV-personality fiancée with unflappable deadpan wit. Joe Viterelli, as Jelly, De Niro's sweet, doughy right-hand man -- he's the kind of guy who says "sangwich" instead of "sandwich" -- has just the right amount of gruffly shambling charm. And Kyle Sabihy, as Crystal's blasé, brainy, slightly overweight teenage son, almost walks off with the movie. Speaking volumes with just the arch of an eyebrow, he's the refreshing antithesis of the die-cast, smart-alecky youngster you usually see in these types of roles. But of all of them, it's most wonderful to see how relaxed -- and effective -- De Niro is as a comic actor. It's no surprise: Even in his most serious (and most terrifying) roles, he's always betrayed at least a mischievous glimmer. But for a long stretch, it just seemed as if De Niro was trying way too hard, squeezing out stiff, showy, excessively actor-y performances like that of the nasty stepdad in "This Boy's Life." In that movie, his wooden, staccato reading of the line "I know a thingger two about a thingger two" will forever resonate for me as a prime example of a good actor gone bad. But now De Niro seems to be circling back to the kind of sly subtlety that marked him as such an incredible performer in the first place, putting it to use in a variety of unexpected ways. His supporting role in "Great Expectations" was one of the most moving performances of last year. And here, he's simply having a ball. He looks fully at home in his absurdly flashy shirts -- they're as much a part of him as his skeptical squint or his cocky but oddly guileless smirk. He and Crystal play off each other beautifully. When Crystal suggests to him that he might suffer from an Oedipal complex, he has to first explain who Oedipus was. "Phhfucking Greeks!" De Niro replies, rolling his eyes. The joke's on him, and he's loving it. He's reached the point in his career where he really does know a thing or two about a thing or two -- and proving it is the last thing he has to worry about. SALON | March 5, 1999 Stephanie Zacharek is a frequent contributor to Salon.