Tonight Iowa State students will have a chance to see a free screening of the new movie “Analyze This,” a comedy that features Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal and Lisa Kudrow.

The event is made possible by Network Event Theater, a system of satellite dishes hooked up across the nation at different universities where ongoing entertainment and educational programming is provided for student populations.

“We want to provide free entertainment for the students and give them an opportunity to get on campus and enjoy something that is free,” Campus Operations Director Toby Brooks said.

Currently, Network Event Theater is hooked up to 40 campuses across the nation from both the East and West Coasts.

“Most events are usually sold out,” Brooks said. “In fact, for ‘Analyze This,’ the tickets at Arizona State University have been gone for about a week now.”

In “Analyze This,” De Niro plays a mob boss who has panic attacks, and Crystal plays the psychiatrist who is supposed to help him through his problems.

Both men’s lives are in a panic since Crystal is about to marry Kudrow’s character and De Niro is being promoted.

“It’s a comedy so we want to gather in as many age groups as possible to attend the event,” Brooks said. “Crystal is a great comedy actor, but I think the strong point will be seeing De Niro in a comedy. We don’t have an opportunity to see that.

“He is playing a character that he has pretty much manufactured — the mob boss. It will be interesting to see how he does that in a comedy versus a serious drama.”

Following the screening, De Niro, Crystal and director Harold Ramis will be available live via satellite from UCLA to answer questions from students across the country.

“Depending on how much time goes into it, I think each university will be able to ask at least one or two questions,” Brooks said.

This free premiere showing and live interactive will take place tonight at 8 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. Passes are required and are available at the West Student Office Space reception desk.