Randy Newman's opening song, "A Fool in Love,
perfectly sets up the movie that follows. The
lyrics begin, "Show me a man who is gentle and
kind, and I'll show you a loser, before praising
the man who takes what he wants. Greg Focker (Ben
Stiller) is the fool in love in Meet the Parents.
Just as he's about to propose to his girlfriend
Pam (Teri Polo), he learns that her sister's
fiancé asked their father, Jack Byrnes (Robert De
Niro), for permission to marry. Now he feels the
need to do the same thing. When Greg meets Jack,
he is so desperate to be liked that he makes up
stories and kisses ass rather than having the
courage of his convictions. It doesn't take an
elite member of the CIA to see right through Greg,
but that's precisely what Jack is. Directed by Jay
Roach (the Austin Powers movies), Meet the Parents
is an incredibly well-crafted comedy that stands
in nice opposition to, say, the sloppy extremes of
the Farrelly brothers. Stiller is great at playing
up the uncomfortable comedy of errors, balancing
just the right amount of selfishness and self-
deprecating humor, while De Niro's Jack is funny
as the hard-ass father who just wants a few
straight answers from the kid. What makes the Jack
character all the funnier is Blythe Danner as his
wife, the Gracie to his George Burns, who is the
true heart of the movie. Oh, and Owen Wilson turns
in yet another terrific comic performance as Pam's
ex-fiancé.
Format size: | Fullscreen |
Languages: | English, Spanish, French |
Runtime: | 108 min. |
Number of discs: | 1 |
Subtitles: | Spanish, French |