"Meet the Parents" Reviewed by Carlos deVillalvilla (Click on the images to see larger version and credits.)
It is true of all longterm intimate relationships that
you are not only with your partner, are with
your partner's family as well (and they with yours). There is
nothing more terrifying for a prospective groom than
meeting the mom and dad for the first time with them
eying you not as a boyfriend but as the husband for
their daughter. Believe me, I know -- I've been there.
I hated this movie, which I found almost completely without redeeming value. There are a couple of laughs.
But its premise is so bad -- Robert De Niro as the weird, creepy father who tortures Ben Stiller as a pathetic dweeb -- that the film's few charms can't overcome its nastiness. It's like watching a kid torture small animals. -- John Orr
Focker does his best to make a good impression, but he
is in a household made chaotic by the impending
marriage of Pamela's sister (Nicole deHuff), the
presence of her medically-snobbish in-laws-to-be
(Phyllis George and James Rebhorn) and Pamela's
somewhat put-upon mother (Blythe Danner). Things keep
going wrong for poor Greg. And then they get worse. By
the time things come to a head, your sides will be
sore with laughter.
Stiller, on the strength of "Parents" and "There's
Something About Mary," has become one of Hollywood's
most bankable comedians. His likable boy-next-door
style reminds me, oddly enough, of silent star Harold
Lloyd, without the physicality. De Niro, who exhibited
heretofore unknown comic talents in "Analyze This,"
continues to lampoon his own image with hilarious
results.
Even if you don't like the Farrelly Brothers, whose
style "Meet the Parents" most closely resembles,
you'll find yourself laughing out loud hysterically at
some of the more inspired gags. There's one bit
involving a cat and an urn that literally turned the Da Queen and I
purple from laughter. It's very
thereaputic.
"Meet the Parents" is vulgar in places, but it's
screwball at heart. It's one of the funniest movies to
come along in quite a while. If life is stressing you
out, an evening watching "Meet the Parents" is just
the tonic you need.
Theater or Video?
See cast, credit and other details about "Meet the Parents" at Internet Movie Data Base. |