Meet the Parents (2001, DVD)

Introduction

For the first time in a long time my husband and I got a babysitter and went on a date. We knew we wanted to see a movie, and there was no question of which movie we wanted to see. My husband and I had seen the previews for Meet the Parents and thought it looked hysterical.

We weren t expecting Oscar-worth film, just a few good laughs. We got exactly what we wanted from this movie, and then some!

Characters/Story

Gaylord Greg Focker
Ben Stiller delivers an excellent portrayal of Greg Focker, a man in love and up to his eyeballs in problems.

Greg wants to marry Pam. Just as he s about to propose to Pam she gets a call telling her that her sister in engaged and that the sister s fianc asked her dad s permission first. Wanting to be a stand up guy and do the right thing, Greg holds off on his proposal until he gets a chance to meet her parents and ask for her father s blessing.

Greg s initial meeting with Pam s parents doesn t go well. Things go from bad to worse quite quickly, with events such as shattering the urn holding Pam s paternal grandmother s ashes which allows the cat to squat and bury in them, allowing the toilet to run all night and have the septic tank flood the wedding site, setting fire to the wedding altar, and losing Pam s father s beloved cat and spray painting a stray from the pound to look like the missing cat!

Everything Greg does, however misguided, is done in the effort to win the approval of a man who just doesn t seem think Greg is good enough. As impossible as her father is to please, maybe Greg doesn t want to marry Pam so badly after all.

Pamela Martha Byrnes
Played by Teri Polo, Pam is basically a sweet woman. She s a teacher who obviously loves kids, and she seems to love Greg very much. Another thing about Pam? She s a serious daddy s girl and any man who wins her heart really needs to have Daddy s approval. She sees the good in her dad, not realizing the hell her father puts Greg through.

Pamela also loves Greg dearly, but when she finds out what her dad s been putting Greg through who will she side with?

Jack Byrnes
In probably the funniest role in this movie, Robert DeNiro plays Jack Byrnes a man forced into retirement from the CIA. He s still sharp, and he loves his oldest daughter with all his heart. No man is good enough for Pam, is he?

You don t really feel like Jack is mean for the sake of meanness, he just refuses to give Greg a chance. From what I saw, I don t think he gave any man a chance.

Blissfully ignorant of his own son s marijuana usage, Jack assumes that the pipe he finds in Greg s jacket (borrowed from Pam s brother) belongs to Greg. He doesn t want his daughter mixed up with a man who uses drugs.

Jack also hates the fact that Greg is a male nurse. When he hears that Greg aced his medical school entrance exams and still opted for nursing he s unbelieving. Why would anyone do that. For the sake of his obsession with discrediting Greg, Jack has his sources check the records. Greg Focker never took the medical school exams. With evidence like this, Pam will have to listen.

My Thoughts

Have you ever seen a commercial for a movie that looked hysterical, only to see it and discover they showed you saw all the funny scenes in the commercial? Well, have no fear of that happening with this movie. To make a commercial with all the funny scenes would take about an hour and a half. Oh wait, that would be the entire movie!

Ben Stiller has an amazing knack for looking pitifully funny when bad things happen to them. It s a tough art. You feel so sorry for Greg (Stiller) in this movie, finding yourself wishing he d tell Jack (DeNiro) off.

My favorite scene in Meet the Parents is when Greg (Stiller) gets on a plane to head back home after his disastrous time with Pam s parents and has an altercation with an annoying flight attendant. You can t help but dislike the attendant, and you sympathize with Greg for losing it!

I don t want to let this review end without mentioning the hilarious performances put in by Owen Wilson (playing the obnoxiously perfect, saintly ex-fiance of Pam) and Blythe Danner (Pam s sweet and kind, albeit airheaded mother).

Recommendation

Meet the Parents is one of the funniest movies I ve seen in years!

I recommend Meet the Parents highly for just about anyone 13 or older, the laughing just won t stop!