(Well, this review might be a bit of a waste, since 473 people have already commented on this film. Oh well...........)


As a bit of a lark, I decided to rent two Hollywood comedies this week -- Bowfinger, and Meet the Parents. Both films have a fair share of laughs, although the truth of the matter is that Bowfinger was a little better than Meet the Parents, even though Steve Martin’s film didn’t do nearly as much business. I’ll discuss Martin’s film at another time, but for now, I’ll try to get through the writing of this particular review for Meet the Parents.

Ben Stiller plays Greg Focker (as he says at one point about his last name, it’s pronounced exactly as it’s spelled......), a male nurse who hopes to get his girlfriend (played by Teri Polo) to marry him. But he is let down somewhat when he learns about her father -- the woman’s sister is also planning on getting married, but the potential mate had to get her father’s permission. Greg’s not looking forward to the whole idea of having to get daddy’s permission........

He arrives at the parent’s place. At first, the parents, Jack and Dina, (Robert De Niro and Blythe Danner) seem like nice folk, but there’s just something a little odd about the father. For one thing, Greg went and bought a gift, a flower pot, with a rare flower planted inside, expecting that Jack, retired from the flower business, would really like it, yet he reacts indifferently to the gesture. Jack also makes a few digs at Greg, as if he is trying to test whether this guy will be a suitable son-in-law. And he takes things a little too personally, especially when he discovers that Greg doesn’t like cats -- Jack has a precious Himalayan cat, and apparently needs to protect it from this evil cat-hater. And that’s not even the worst that Jack subjects Greg to.

In actually, there’s a lot more to Jack than what it appears to be. In what appears to be a nod to De Niro’s acting past, it’s discovered that the flower business was just a cover......! Hmmm!! Well, in this case, Jack’s not a gangster, but a former CIA agent, which means that he is an expert in interrogation. And Greg is the new guinea pig.

As usual, all sorts of complications arise, all stemming from Greg’s crushingly failed attempts to impress Jack. Just as it seems that Greg gets on his good side, something happens that takes it all away. Some of the events border on the outrageous, such as the painful results of a game of water volleyball, or, later on, when Jake’s cat goes missing. Greg can never get it right, although to be honest, it’s not as if Greg exactly does the right thing half the time. He practically just walks right in to trouble 50% of the time.

So the question is, will Greg be able to struggle through this state of affairs and marry the woman of his dreams? Or will he ruin it for everyone?

The actor who comes off best, by far, is De Niro. This really shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. For one thing, De Niro is a highly trained performer. Another thing is that he knows how to play this particular role much better than a “real” comic actor might. De Niro plays it absolutely straight, so to speak, which is great, considering that his character is really nothing more than a moldy stereotype. There’s certainly nothing original about an extremely overprotective father, who feels that nothing is good enough for his precious daughters -- this rehash exists in half the sitcoms of the world, and feels like something that would be more at home in the 1950’s than in the supposedly more progressive 21st century.

But Robert De Niro sells the role. He hits all his lines perfectly. He knows when to play over the top and when to rein it in. A comedy actor might just go over the top, trying to make us laugh, but De Niro, Method actor that he is, actually puts some emotion into it, even if the emotions are of the sort that can get laughs. It just so happens that the scenes are funny -- De Niro doesn’t try to make them funny, which only makes his character funnier, if that makes any sense.

The movie was alright, but all it proved to me is that I’m not a really funny guy. The premise is weary, and some of the humor is just over-the-top. It can be cute to see a guy try his best to impress his future father-in-law, and screw up mightily in the attempt. But sometimes his screw-ups are just too much, escalating to the point where it just becomes silly rather than funny. Some of the supporting characters, including the woman Greg is to marry, are, well, merely supporting characters, without a whole lot to do (Owen Wilson’s part has some great, quirky moments, although I think that there should have been a little more depth in his character’s relationship with Polo’s character, considering that this guy was her beau before she met with Stiller’s character.) And Stiller comes off as a bit too obnoxious anyway. If he actually were a nervous, scared fellow trying to impress his girl’s dad, then it’d probably be a bit more amusing and even poignant, but Stiller is too annoying to really get a whole lot of sympathy. Not that I found anyone extremely grating, but this is just a mere observation.

But there are still some funny laughs, almost completely due to De Niro. Say what you will about this major actor supposedly degrading himself by appearing in slapstick comedies, but the man can do comedy. That’s a good enough recommendation for me.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD