Meet the Parents Review
by "Mark O'Hara" (mwohara AT hotmail DOT com)October 20th, 2000
Meet the Parents (2000)
It’s been several days since I’ve seen Jay Roach’s MEET THE PARENTS, and I remember it most as a one-joke movie.
It is a very good joke, though, mainly because of the talents of Robert DeNiro in the role of the father-in-law-from-hell. His Jack Byrnes is hilarious in all the mannerisms and intonations that the role calls for. Of course Jack Byrnes is not yet a father-in-law, and because of the way he treats Ben Stiller’s character, Greg Focker, he does not intend to be.
Yes, the joke revolves around the old premise of girl brings home boyfriend to meet the parents, at least one of whom is completely intolerant. The screenwriters, James Herzfeld and John Hamburg, have upped the ante on the old formula by modernizing the jokes, and some of the routines do reach the plateau of originality. Still, I found the funniest gag in the whole piece involves a Himalayan cat and an urn full of ashes. That’s why I’m giving a mixed review to the film: it is a relatively successful light comedy that never builds into the greatness of, say, GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER; we never feel close enough to any of the characters to be emotionally affected. When Pam Byrnes (Terri Polo) persists in saying she is deeply in love with Greg, we don’t know why, and we don’t find out.
Thank you, Jay Roach, for not letting the jokes fall into the crude abyss of humor attempted in flicks like AMERICAN PIE and SCARY MOVIE. Slapstick and other jokes of that ilk are still the stuff of belly laughs. The timing of so many of the situations is perfect: as we learn that Jack Byrnes is really a retired CIA man – who at one point actually hooks up his daughter’s beau to an antique polygraph machine – we wait eagerly for the next set up. And it comes, joke after joke.
You got the one about Greg’s name, right? His real first name will get another guffaw out of you. What’s so funny about this male nurse is the deadpan aspect assumed by Ben Stiller. He seems unnaturally pleasant, even obsequious, around Jack. It’s not until Greg’s situation is horrendous – until he’s dug himself a too-deep hole – that he begins to react angrily to Jack’s condescension.
Viewers of MEET THE PARENTS are bound to laugh at Greg Focker’s plights, as well as at the subtle comic skills of Robert DeNiro. Though it’s not as strong as the comedy DeNiro made last year – ANALYZE THIS – MEET THE PARENTS offers solid entertainment at a point when the fall season is becoming crowded with solid movies.
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Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
