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Meet The Parents (2000)

Comical Confrontation

A review by Michael S. Goldberger.
Copyright © Michael S. Goldberger 2000
Maybe it's the menace Robert De Niro's characters are capable of summoning that enraptures our sense of humour so efficiently when he stars in a comedy. Perhaps we are relieved and hence simultaneously enthralled at the prospect of all that potential energy being harnessed for the creation of laughter instead of threat. It's a transporting release. Like when you escape the bully's grasp, or your martinet of a boss says, "Aw Smithers, forget that impossible assignment I gave you." And yet, there is still a twinge of nervousness in our laugh. There is always the disquieting possibility that within Mr. De Niro's latest persona there lurks a Crazy Charlie (Mean Streets). Imagine if he were your dad and that you wanted to bring home your latest significant other. Which is why he's perfect in the often hilarious Meet The Parents.

He's Jack Byrnes, the comfortably ensconced master of a picturesque manse in Oyster Bay, Long Island. Surrounded by two daughters in their twenties, a teen-aged son and an adoring wife (Blythe Danner), he is the epitome of American prosperity. He says he's retired from the rare flower business. But we know better. How else would you explain the lie detector in his secret basement hideaway?

That's precisely what's puzzling Ben Stiller as the visiting boyfriend, Greg, when his snooping ways take him down to his enigmatic host's hidden catacombs. Needless to say, he is caught. And thus begins an unremitting series of uneasy confrontations as potential father-in-law and possible son-in-law square off in ritualistic combat. At issue is the fair hand of Pam, nicely played by Teri Polo.

Like Mr. De Niro's last comedic outing, Analyze This, Meet The Parents is funnier than it has any right to be. The script by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg is inspired, but not ingenious. And while the shtick that the duelling future in-laws lay down is quite convivial, it is also often predictable. Yet a happy synergy of buoyant elements makes director Jay Roach's zany effort more comical than the sum of its jokes. Plus the filmmaker exhibits a facility for filling his scenario with supportive comic business.

For instance, there's the matter of Greg's last name. Suffice it to note, it shares a pronunciation with a German fighter aircraft, other than Messerschmitt. And because just the slightest typographical error would doubtless compromise the standards of this fine family newspaper, it won't be printed here. But Vaudeville-like references to Greg's homonymic handle form one of the film's several running gags. Like the good-natured jabs about his Jewish heritage or Jack's uncharacteristic adoration for his peculiarly trained cat, Mr. Jinks, they humorously serve as mini sub-texts.

However, Meet The Parents enjoys the good fortune of possessing that comic je ne sais quoi that ferries it past the limits of its simple comedic structure. Like a comedian who happily goes on a roll after providentially winning the audience's approval, Mr. Roach's rather standard effort is inspired to burst for the fences once viewers buy into its preposterous plot and get into the rhythms of its very own insanity. Think about it. What bridegroom-to-be would still stick around after being manacled to a polygraph machine and then mercilessly interrogated by his intended's demonic father?

You see, Ben Stiller's Greg, like the string of lovably intrepid shlumpfs who have graced the silver screen before him, is a modern update of the classic comic suitor. Cast from the very template that the likes of Chaplin, Keaton and Arbuckle etched in celluloid, the hopeless romantic is no quitter. He banks on the quixotic theory that, whatever the circumstances, love will out. So what if he's a male nurse seeking entree into a family chock-full of doctor son-in-laws. Who cares if his utterly reprehensible last name is virtually unpronounceable? And what harm is a little tête-à-tête with an overly zealous future father-in-law? It won't kill him. Will it?

You'd have no problem answering that question if the antagonist were represented by anyone other than Robert De Niro. He poses just the right question mark. Unlike Harrison Ford's unwieldy journey from leading man to character actor as evidenced in What Lies Beneath, the transition fits Mr. De Niro like the proverbial old shoe. And because he appears to be genuinely enjoying his thespic change of venue, it makes his Devilish fomentations all the more diverting.

Bearing the brunt of this inquisitorial assault, Mr. Stiller does his comedy-team parents proud. Adroitly making the underdog the hero, he wisely leaves just enough doubt about Greg to keep the viewer slightly off balance. What he and De Niro lack in natural chemistry, they make up for in skill and talent.

But bottom line, this is a farce. Hence while the love story aspect of the tale has its sweet moments, as in any number of Marx Brothers movies it is merely a prop in the employ of that purpose. In fact, Miss Polo as the well-scrubbed and winsome WASP princess is quite reminiscent of the typically unwitting ingenue of that era. And Blythe Danner as her mom is every bit the breathless observer that Margaret Dumont perennially portrayed for the boys.

So, the question is, how funny is it?

Well, it's no Something About Mary. But you can figure on one true roar, two or three legitimate guffaws, six hearty laughs, a dozen or so cackles, a steady stream of heh, hehs and countless approving nods. Which doubtless makes Meet The Parents worthy of your funny bone's acquaintance.

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