# Meet the Parents (2000)

### reviewed by
Laura Clifford

    MEET THE PARENTS
    ----------------

When Chicago nurse Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) tries to propose 'cute' to his schoolteacher girlfriend Pam (Teri Polo, TV's "Felicity"), she's interrupted by cell phone news that her younger sister is getting married. As Pam discusses her sister's doctor fiance's courtly ways, including his having asked her father for her hand in marriage, Greg realizes he'd better follow suit and packs the ring away for a trip to "Meet the Parents."

    LAURA:

Written by Jim Herzfeld ("Tapeheads") and John Hamburg ("Safe Men"), "Meet the Parents" is every prospective son-in-law's nightmare. Greg's luggage is lost (along with the ring), forcing him to accept clothers from his girlfriend's father. His gift of a rare flower bulb to is met with apathy and he later learns Jack Byrnes (Robert DeNiro) isn't a horticulturist, but an ex CIA profiler. Pam lets slip that Greg hates cat while Jack dotes on an arrogant Himalayan called Mr. Jinx. A gift of champagne is uncorked to shatter the urn holding Jack's mother's ashes. Greg's told to 'keep his snake in a cage for 72 hours' and is enconsed in the den and told not to flush the toilet. To top things off, he inadvertently finds Jack's hidden office, complete with polygrapher equipment and Jack arrives in time to 'treat' him to a demonstration. Twenty-fours have yet to pass and things will get far worse.

Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro are an inspired pairing. Stiller can be sexily romantic, painfully clueless, physically brilliant and hilariously enraged. He almost manages to rise above the fact that the script paints Greg Focker as an obsequious schmuck, a character who is only likeable at the beginning and end of the film. DeNiro spends most of the film as the personification of disdain and paranoia when he isn't loonily swooning over Mr. Jinx or obsessively little-girling his eldest daughter. He, too, is unlikeable until the film's denouement allows him to warm up a little (and set us up for a sequel that appears to prove that warmth false).

Additionally, the script strains occasionally, as when it would have us believe a well-to-do family would allow their septic system to get perilously close to full days before a backyard wedding. More often than not, however, the laughs are honestly come by. The two most brilliant setpieces concern Greg's attempt to rescue Mr. Jinx from the roof while sneaking a frowned upon smoke and a pre-wedding barbeque and the best man (and former fiance of Pam) Kevin's (Owen Wilson, "Shanghai Noon") house.

Suppport is hit and miss. Blythe Danner ("The Prince of Tides") is endearingly ditzy as Dina Byrnes, all huge blue eyes and blonde halo of hair. She's the type of mom who serves food with baby names (hors d'ouvres are 'pu-pus'). Brother Denny Byrnes, (Jon Abrahams, "Scary Movie") however, seems like an ill-advised homage to the demented brother in "Annie Hall." Newcomer Nicole DeHuff resembles Parker Posey lite as bride to be Debbie while her fiance Bob Banks (Thomas McCarthy, "30 Days") is a loud jock. His dad Larry (James Rebhorn, "The Talented Mr. Ripley") is amusingly played as an almost Greek chorus to Jack. Owen Wilson is dead-on great as the so-perfect-he'd-be-obnoxious-if-he-weren't-so-damn-saintly Kevin, a filthy rich Wall Street investor who creates elaborate carvings because Jesus was a good role model as a carpenter. ("Greg's Jewish," Pam advises him. "Great! So was JC!" Kevin enthuses.)

"Meet the Parents" had all the pieces in place to be a comic masterpiece. While it doesn't quite live up to its potential, it's still a heck of a lot funnier than what usually passes for comedy in these days.

    B

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