Reviewed by Victor Rebikoff.
Director: Jay Roach, Dreamworks and Universal Pictures, PG 108 Minutes.
‘Austin Powers’ director Jay Roach has made a hilarious romantic comedy which centres on a male nurse – with the unusual name of Gaylord Focker (Ben Stiller – ‘Tropic Thunder’) – being asked by his partner Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo – Beyond’) to meet her parents.
On arrival at their lavish home both are greeted by Pam’s welcoming mother Dina (Blythe Danner – Detachment’) and her father Jack (Robert De Niro – The Intern’), a retired CIA operative who is deeply distrustful of his daughter’s intention of marrying Gaylord.
In his initial encounter with Jack it is evident that Gaylord/Greg is not making any sort of impression on his future father-in-law instead it turns into a nightmarish scenario as Greg expresses a dislike for Jack’s Himalayan cat Jinx.
To make matters worse their visit coincides with the announced wedding of Pam’s sister to a young doctor and Greg being unable to find an opening to propose to Pam – having lost his luggage in transit containing his engagement ring.
When the prospect does present itself for Greg to propose to Pam it is Jack he must first ask as is his practice before he finds himself subjected to Jack’s lie-detector test in his secluded basement.
As the disaster prone Greg continues to create further mishaps the final straw is the cat’s disappearance resulting in Jack expressing his profound resentment and having the family turn away from Greg except for Pam standing-up for him.
Roach has crafted a delightful storyline full of laugh-at-loud scenes and focussed on the comic misadventures of Greg Focker whose plan to marry the woman he loves is made difficult due to his relationship with Jack – his father-in-law from hell.
Apart from the pleasing portrayals from Danner and Polo as mother and daughter there are the enjoyable performances from Stiller as the accident prone Greg and De Niro as the delusional Jack – still believing he is still in the CIA.
It is some of these scenes between Greg and Jack that are memorable.
As a result of the huge success of Roach’s ‘Meet the Parents’ he then directed the sequel ‘Meet the Fockers’ which was followed by ‘Little Fockers’ under a different director.
Vic’s Verdict: 3 ½ Stars
Meet The Parents is to be televised on 9GO at 8.50pm on Saturday 4 December.
