Meet the Parents

After watching movies like this and Analyze This, I have to wonder why Robert de Niro doesn't appear in more comedies. He's as good at comedy as he is drama. If he's looking to be challenged he really should try more comedies because it's a lot harder to be funny than it is to be serious. That is of course a round about way of saying that this movie is funny. Not as funny as I had expected mind you but funny nonetheless.

The movie works in an area rich with possibilities for humor. One of the scariest things a man must do in life is to meet the parents of a future wife. A good first impression is vital, effectively cranking up the pressure to the extent that even the most confident of men should be borderline hyperventilating. That kind of tension is perfect for comedy and this movie exploits it nicely. What surprised me though is that it didn't come roaring our out of the gate, instead opting to build the tension to the breaking point. The laughs tend to get bigger and bigger as the movie moves along as thing go from bad to worse.

Ben Stiller plays the young man out to meet the parents. He's is desperate to impress her parents so that he can propose to her. Unfortunately the early impressions go badly causing him to try harder, coming up with wild schemes to impress. He tells little lies to get around her father's prying questions. He keeps getting caught in the lies forcing him to tell even bigger ones to cover the originals. His problems grow and expand until inevitably it all blows up in his face.

The writing here is sharp and develops situations that are fairly realistic. More than once I saw things that bore an eery resemblance to my own experiences meeting my future father-in-law and the rest of my wife's family. Of course since these are played for laughs everything in the film is an exageration of real life. That was probably my biggest complaint. While the situations started realistically, everything was eventually blown way out of proportion. Occasionally doing that is fine but when it happens over and over again it starts to get hard to believe, sucking the joy out of the jokes.

Despite my nitpicking this is a fun film, mostly due to the performances from De Niro and Stiller. They work beautifully together. De Niro is the ultimate nightmare of a potential father-in-law. He's a bit more suspicious than the typical father and considerably more able to pounce on any little mistake or flaw. Stiller plays a decent enough guy but one who is a bit lacking of confidence. Because of that he will try anything to make himself look good. The pairing of desperation and extreme suspicion make for an explosive combination. Those two actors make the movie work as the rest of the characters are generally underwritten.

This is a nice light hearted comedy good for numerous laughs. Nothing more and nothing less.

- John Shea