Meet the Parents (2000)

Based on a screenplay and 1992 film of the same name, this film tells the story of a young man meeting his girlfriend’s parents for the first time, and the results are nothing short of catastrophic.

Male nurse Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) has been seeing his girlfriend, elementary school teacher Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo) for ten months. He is planning to propose to her, but after hearing about her father’s need for permission to be granted first, he accepts the fact that he is going to have to meet her parents, and ask her father before he can ask her.

And with Pam’s sister Deborah (Nicole DeHuff) about to marry her boyfriend, the two of them seize the opportunity to introduce Greg to the family on the weekend of Deborah’s wedding.

Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) and Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo).

All Greg knows about Pam’s father is that he used to be a florist - or at least that is the cover story. The truth is that the family patriarch - and he is quite an imposing patriarch at that - Jack Byrnes (Robert de Niro) was a high-ranking agent in the CIA, and he will stop at nothing to find out exactly who Greg is, and whether he is right for his perfect daughter.

Pam’s mother Dina (Blythe Danner) is much more accepting of Greg, trusting her daughter’s judgment. It is only Jack who is convinced that Greg is far below his high standard, and throughout the entire weekend, the two of them are constantly at each other as Jack is unable to put his investigative past behind him, and Greg is unable - try as he might - to impress him at all.

And in true comedy style, everything that can possibly go wrong does go wrong, and how.

L-R: Dina (Blythe Danner), Jack (Robert de Niro), Greg (Ben Stiller), Pam (Teri Polo).

The screenplay for the 1992 film of the same name was written by Greg Glienna & Mary Ruth Clarke, and in fact, the two of them are credited with writing ‘the Story’ of this film. This leads me to suspect - though I have not seen the original film - that this screenplay, by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg, is incredibly similar. It seems that this version is little more than an attempt to release to a much larger audience, using the pulling power of bigger, more well-known, stars.

Randy Newman’s music - including an original song written and performed by Newman over the opening titles - seems perfectly suited to the film. There is nothing necessarily spectacular about the score, but it works well enough. It is fairly standard music for a film of this genre - most definitely a comedy - and I had no concern that the film was in any way overscored.

Similarly, the cinematography is fairly standard. Peter James does have a decent understanding of light and dark, shadow and contrast, shot framing, camera angles, and all the other elements of cinematography, that all adds up to a film where these decisions and choices are all but unnoticeable. Obviously, this is a good thing; if it was too noticeable, it would become jarring and unsettling.

Jack (Robert de Niro) and Greg (Ben Stiller).

The performances of the cast are likewise well-fitting within the genre. Audiences have seen Ben Stiller in plenty of comedic roles before - in fact, it is rare to see him in anything else - but it is (or was at the time of the film’s release) Robert de Niro who had not been seen in many comedic roles previously. And he is absolutely sensational in this film. He has excellent comic timing, and perfectly deadpan delivery of every single one of his lines.

The whole cast are great, but it is the push-and-pull between these two that really make the film the hilarious piece that it is.

Director Jay Roach - also known for his hilarious comedies - has made yet another gem here. The film even had a couple of sequels (which I will be reviewing in due course), but it is this first instalment that was the best of them all.

A thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours, even if you’ve seen it many times before.

7 out of 10.