Meet the Parents (2001, VHS)

Meet The Parents is a comedy that plays strictly for laughs. The movie is also primarily a showcase for its stars, Robert DeNiro and Ben Stiller. I can't imagine a real-life situation where two men would have stood for each other's actions for an entire weekend, as they did here, but these actors clearly understand the broad strokes of the film, and have fun with them.

Stiller stars as Greg Focker, a nurse at a New York hospital who's trying to find the right moment to ask his longtime girlfriend, Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo) to marry him. Greg had a plan to propose to Pam before a weekend trip to her parents' house, but his moment is ruined by a phone call from Pam's sister, who has even bigger news. She's marrying her doctor boyfriend in two weeks.

This incident begins a chain of disasters for Greg. First, the airline that Greg and Pam uses for their flight loses his luggage. Then a baby spits up on the clothes he's wearing. The airline then sends the wrong luggage to Greg. Thanks to the Byrnes family, Greg survives these incidents.

Surviving the family patriarch, Jack Byrnes (DeNiro), and his house rules turn out to be the biggest challenge for Greg. He doesn't allow smoking, so Greg ditches his cigarettes and buys nicotine gum. Jack does not allow his beloved, toilet-trained cat outside, and asks Greg to understand that. Jack happily demonstrates the surveillance equipment he has installed throughout the house. On top of all the rules, Jack is an overly protective father, so Greg knows he must not make waves.

That is easier said than done. As careful as Greg is to make a good impression, he falls victim to mishap after mishap. An early one involves a champagne cork, a family urn, and the family cat. Another occurs when Greg forgets about a plumbing problem. A third occurs when Greg, after drawing criticism for his ability to play volleyball well, spikes a ball that gives Pam's sister a bloody nose and a black eye.

Jack and his needling, overbearing nature don't help Greg. He's always making fun of Greg's name and career choice. He's always flaunting the riches of himself and his friends in Greg's face. As a former CIA agent, Jack grows suspicious of Greg's intentions as the accidents mount. It becomes apparent that Greg will probably not be welcome in Jack's circle of trust, which is vital for Jack. Anyone not good enough for Jack is not good enough for Pam. Eventually, Greg must decide how much of that he's going to take.

Meet The Parents is humorous, but predictable. The humor is dictated by the situations, and not by the characters. In fact, this movie really doesn't have any characters. Jack is really just a caricature of a protective father. Greg is just too good to be true. We don't get to meet the other people in Jack and Greg's worlds. They're merely there because situations need them to be there.

Nevertheless, I liked the chemistry between DeNiro and Stiller. In fact, both actors borrow from other characters they made famous to make the humor work. In DeNiro's case, he comes across as an older Travis Bickle who has channeled his emotions in a more positive way. For Stiller, he seems to be reprising his Ted character from There's Something About Mary, except the humor is of a gentler nature. The humor comes from the actors' ability to not overreact to one another. In the scene where Jack subjects Greg to a lie detector, Jack calmly tells Greg to just relax, then leads up to very personal questions. Greg naturally gets nervous, but he has to remain polite. It's scenes like this that make Meet The Parents work.

In addition to Polo, other key actors include Blythe Danner (as Pam's mom, Dina), James Rebhon (as a family friend), and Owen Wilson (as Pam's old boyfriend). All their performances are nice, but only Wilson made any sort of impression on me. He effectively conveys kindness, sadness, and resignation to his performance as a friend who still cares about Pam. Director Jay Roach (best known for the Austin Powers pictures) brings out the humor, but just like the Austin Powers series, brings out little else. It's comedy first here.

Meet The Parents is, in essence, a feature-length sitcom. Laughs are the order of the day, and to that end, the film delivers. The insight and characters are familiar, but not deep. Meet The Parents is a film that is well-made, but nothing more. It's just a good excuse for a good time.