Review: Meet the Parents

Directed by: Jay Roach

Written by: Jim Herzfeld & John Hamburg

Starring: Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, James Rebhorn, Jon Abrahams

Rating: [3/5]

Meeting the parents of the person you love and want to spend the rest of your life with rightfully comes with some nerves. A fear that the most important people to the person you love may not accept you, which certainly would not fare well for the relationship. Meet the Parents plays with this dynamic as we follow a man who simply can do nothing right when he meets the family of the woman he hopes to propose to. 

Travelling to Long Island from Chicago, Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) will soon meet his girlfriend, Pam’s (Teri Polo) parents, where he hopes to make a positive impression and ask her to marry him. As Greg tries to familiarize himself with everyone as Pam’s sister is set to get married, he repeatedly embarrasses himself as his potential future father-in-law, Jack (Robert De Niro), has his doubts and suspicions. 

As universal a feeling as it gets, Meet the Parents plays on a real nerve that someone would rightfully have, especially when it comes to parents of the opposite sex. Often, especially in movies, it’s either the overprotective father of a daughter or an overbearing mother of a son who makes it difficult for a potential new in-law to ingratiate themselves into the family structure. In the case of Jack, it’s important Greg proves himself in order to join his inner circle. Unfortunately, Greg has quite the hill to climb. 

Much of the comedy on display in this film comes at the expense of Greg from his last name, Focker, which sets itself up for various jokes but also a combination of his personality and abject clumsiness. Greg gets mocked for his profession as a male nurse, which really dates this movie, but the lead character does plenty on his own to embarrass himself in front of Pam’s friends and family. It’s like that cartoon where someone repeatedly runs into the same rake time and time again that only makes the situation worse. However, all of this comes in the hopes of trying to impress Pam’s family, which makes much of this film quite cruel. 

In a sense, the cruelty is the point, as Jack represents this almost cartoonish potential future father-in-law in the way he acts towards Greg. From the famous polygraph test to the intense research he does on Greg with the connections he has, he certainly does not make it easy on the guy to feel comfortable in this setting. It does beg the question of how much is too much and at what point does someone put their foot down and tell Jack when enough is enough. This point actually gets at one of the more frustrating elements of this film when it comes to the character of Pam. I know this film is a comedy, and the point is that all of this is ridiculous, but at some point if you obviously see the person you love struggling to this degree to connect with your family and all they do is mock the guy for the majority of the film, it begins to reflect poorly on you. The film somewhat addresses this point, but if I were Greg, I would start to question how much Pam loves me with how much she lets slide throughout this film. 

Both receiving top billing, this feature promises a head-to-head of Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller as the two go blow-for-blow in their comedic gaffes. De Niro at this time is still utilizing the aura of toughness he has developed through his work in the 20th century, which makes it all the more plausible just how intimidating he is for Greg. Stiller, as always, proves to be game for anything comedically and does very well in capturing the desperate nature of Greg but also doing well in acting out the physical comedy involved in a character so incredibly clumsy. These two work so well together, which further crystalizes why they continue to pump out sequels starring these two. 

A bit frustrating to sit through at times through the sheer amount of second-hand embarrassment on behalf of Greg; Meet the Parents does well in exaggerating a common stressful initial interaction anyone in a relationship must encounter. This film has plenty of fun with its premise, as Greg needs to continue to persevere, through no help of his girlfriend, to try and make a positive impression on her family, making for many moments that will make audiences laugh and cringe.