Meet the Parents (2000)
Directed by Jay Roach
Greg Focker is ready to marry his girlfriend, Pam, but before he pops the question, he must win over her formidable father, humorless former CIA agent Jack Byrnes, at the wedding of Pam's sister. As Greg bends over backward to make a good impression, his visit to the Byrnes home turns into a hilarious series of disasters, and everything that can go wrong does, all under Jack's critical, hawklike gaze.
12 connections found
View:
12 films that influenced Meet the Parents
What critics say influenced Meet the Parents
Brother Denny Byrnes, (Jon Abrahams, "Scary Movie") however, seems like an ill-advised homage to the demented brother in "Annie Hall."
The movie is like an extended version of the Annie Hall scene when Woody Allen visits Diane Keaton's WASP-y family and feels like an unwelcome extraterrestrial at their dinner table.
Such a situation could produce a yarn that brings tears to the eyes ("Romeo and Juliet" or could be the basis of a story of unmitigated charm ("Annie Hall").
"Parents" is essentially a comedy of frustration, akin to the scripts that John Hughes devised for the original "Vacation" and then "Planes Trains and Automobiles"--or, on a far more exalted level, that of W.C. Fields for the incomparable 1934 "It's a Gift".
After their animosity has become a sport, Stiller and De Niro are a riot snarling at each other in a red light-green light drag-racing scene reminiscent of the sprint home between Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Gray in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."
I was thinking of Buster Keaton's sharing a changing booth with a total stranger in a public pool in The Cameraman (1928).
Advertisement
It sounds a little like the Andrew Bergman-scripted The In-Laws, but Jack is the anal antithesis of Peter Falk's laidback nutcase, and the film itself is much tighter and more sadistic.
As with the Chevy Chase-starring "National Lampoon's Vacation" series, particularly 1989's raucous "Christmas Vacation" (which this film closely resembles in many ways), everything that could possibly self-destruct for Greg, does.
His match in every way, Robert De Niro has great fun in playing with his big screen image (as he did in 1999's "Analyze This").
Robert De Niro, having already proved his ability to do shtick in "Analyze This," furthers his breadth as a comic artist while Ben Stiller--who can deliver laughs simply by standing sheepishly and wordlessly just beyond a airline boarding ramp at the schoomarmish instructions of a ditzy reception agent--is De Niro's match.
DeNiro puts a hard, channeled sternness on his performance that is not all that different from his gang boss role in "Analyze This."
However, one wise thing the filmmakers did do was find Stiller an ideal, on-screen foil, in the person of Robert De Niro, who is quietly carving out a new career for himself with a series of loopy comedy roles ("Analyze This").
Translated, this might mean that Robert De Niro only became box office gold when he turned to comedy, to parodying his own intense machismo in "Analyze This".
Meet the Parents had the potential to be a true nightmare, like Martin Scorsese's After Hours (1985) or John Hughes' Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987).
Director Jay Roach of the "Austin Powers" films keeps the pace brisk, and the script by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg ably piles the pratfalls ludicrously high.
Director Jay Roach , who made both the "Austin Powers" films, allows himself plenty of time to build-up great comic ideas, which switch seamlessly from screwball to slapstick to wit.
"Austin Powers" I and II director Jay Roach (can that be his real name?) and screenwriters Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg have fashioned an adult-oriented comedy that, while hardly reserved, rests its very funny foundation on well-conceived characterization, lively dialogue and good acting.
Jay Roach (the “Austin Powers” series) directed a screenplay by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg; with Teri Polo and Blythe Danner.
Director Jay Roach (who did both "Austin Powers" movies) knows his sight gags.
Advertisement
Mr. DeNiro, who showed somewhat self-conscious comic flair in the recent "Analyze This", finally relaxes into a fine comedic performance akin to his role in 1988's wonderful "Midnight Run".
Actually, that was evident back in the 1987 road trip comedy "Midnight Run," but it wasn't until last year's "Analyze This" that De Niro finally started to be taken seriously as a comedic actor.
That being said, if films like The Birdcage and Analyse This tickled your fancy you�ll probably be rolling in the aisles, so my comments should be considered in the light of your personal tastes in levity.