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Bring friends to 'Meet the Parents'
Moviegoers will have a great time watching Ben Stiller on the receiving end of Robert De Niro's hilarious abuse in this well-written comedy.
By STEVE PERSALL
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 5, 2000
[Photo: Universal Studios]
Things start poorly for Greg Focker (Ben Stiller), right, when he meets his future father-in-law (Robert De Niro). It’s all downhill from there.
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Robert De Niro is a jolly goodfella these days. Not ha-ha funny like a clown, but he is definitely amusing, playing off the tough guy image that made his career.
He gets his first laugh in Meet the Parents simply by being there. No dialogue, just a menacing camera angle, a warning chord of music and De Niro's are-you-talking-to-me expression suggesting somebody's going to get hurt. We know this character, Jack Byrnes, before we meet him, and we don't want that to be in unfriendly circumstances.
This time, however, that glowering face is demanding: "Are you dating my daughter?" Jack isn't someone to answer in the affirmative. Somebody will get hurt. Meet the Parents brings the pain, along with the sharpest comedy writing since There's Something About Mary.
It's not entirely a coincidence that Ben Stiller is on the receiving end of hilarious abuse in both movies. Stiller is the perfect fall guy, nervously anticipating the sting before he turns the other cheek. Meet the Parents could be a single photograph of Stiller's hang-dog body language being whipped by De Niro's death stare and it would be funny.
Meet the Parents has more going for it than pinpoint casting. This movie has the captivating rhythm of a stand-up comedy routine, laying out minor riffs that later become call-back jokes, looping and dovetailing into crescendos of laughter. Then riding that momentum, nursing it, while a new set of future punch lines starts weaving together. Everything counts, sooner or later.
Screenwriters James Herzfeld and John Hamburg get high marks for sustaining this flow, and director Jay Roach (the Austin Powers flicks) conducts his film with admirable balance of the material. This could be merely a star trip, but it isn't. It could be an overblown late-night skit, but it isn't. Meet the Parents is a polished screwball prank, even making poop jokes respectable again.
Jokes get a bit dicey, but not to the shocking lengths of Cameron Diaz's hair gel or the phallic funnies in Scary Movie. Roach finds that medium between callous contemporary humor and sophisticated movies Hollywood nearly forgot how to make. Laughing viewers can respect themselves in the morning.
Stiller plays Greg Focker, and hearing De Niro spit out his last name in a fit of pique is a running gag that never fails. Greg wants to propose to Jack's daughter, Pam (Teri Polo), but first must live up to the movie title. Jack and wife Dina (Blythe Danner) politely welcome Greg while immediately imposing impossibly high standards for him to fret about.
Greg has no crutch. Sex and cigarettes are forbidden by parental respect. His luggage disappeared, so Greg must borrow everything. He doesn't say anything the Byrnes wish to hear, from cat insults (Jack dotes on his cat) to a meal blessing cribbed from Godspell lyrics. Things don't look good. And they're about to get worse.
Snooping around informs Greg that Jack is a former CIA agent, as if the omnipresent videocameras around the house weren't enough clues. A viewer flashes back to The In-Laws and its spy-and-spouses comedy, but the script still isn't ready to get cozy. Pam's former boyfriend, Kevin (Owen Wilson) turns up, a tender overachiever increasing Greg's insecurities. That darn cat will set off a virtual firestorm of events that must be seen to be believed and laughed at.
Yet, for all of its veiled insults, bruising pratfalls and varied destruction, Meet the Parents maintains a sweet disposition. Nobody is entirely cruel, just blunt about his or her feelings, yet always having somebody else's best interests in mind.
The filmmakers seem to feel that way about the audience, which is not a common feeling to leave a theater with these days. It's refreshing to watch writers take time exploring facets of a comedy gem, when so many films toss out the first, unrefined idea and let it go at that. Some laughs in Meet the Parents occur with a single film edit, a seemingly simple procedure that requires care.
Actors improve in such situations, comedy or drama, knowing they don't need to punch up the dialogue or cover for inadequate vision. This cast expresses the collective joy of people who believe they have good material, with everybody working to make it better. It's an intangible thing, but it matters more with every bad movie you see.
Meet the Parents
- Grade: A-
- Director: Jay Roach
- Cast: Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Owen Wilson, James Rebhorn
- Screenplay: James Herzfeld, John Hamburg
- Rating: PG-13; sexual situations, drug references, profanity
- Running time: 108 min.
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