Robert DeNiro stars as Jack Byrnes, ex-CIA agent masquerading as a mild-mannered florist, and Pam's (Teri Polo) overly protective father. Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) is madly in love with Pam and desperately wants to pop the question. His carefully constructed plan to ask Pam to marry him (including the use of her pre-school class as co-conspirators) is interrupted by a phone call from her younger sister, announcing her engagement. Accompanying Pam to her parent's house for the wedding, Greg decides that the key to Pam's heart, and to her hand in marriage, lies in getting the approval of her father.

Meet the Parents asks the very important question - can a cat person and a dog person ever really like and trust one another? Jack is a cat person who dotes on his fluffball, Jinxie. He's trained the cat to use the toilet, and is working on training Jinx to be the ring bearer during Debbie's (Nicole DeHuff) wedding. Greg is a dog person, though he explains in elaborate detail that he's had experience milking a cat. According to Greg, anything with nipples can be milked. That line leads to one of the film's funniest moments, and supplies us with the chance to hear DeNiro uttering a question we never expected to hear.

During this weekend of meeting the future in-laws Twilight Zone-ish hell, Greg has his luggage lost, is caught with a marijuana pipe, sets an exquisitely crafted gazebo made expressly for Debbie's wedding on fire, gives the bride-to-be a black eye, and manages to lose the cat and replace it with a psycho version with a painted tail (psycho cat in turn devours the wedding dress as well as most of the contents of the Byrnes' den). The only way things could get worse would be if Pam's ex-boyfriend were still in the picture. Surprise - he is! Played with comical understatement by Owen Wilson, Pam's ex-boyfriend Kevin is loved by the Byrnes and happens to be the master crafter behind the gazebo Greg burns down. Talented, rich, and very socially adept, Kevin is everything that Greg isn't. Even Greg's profession is a huge disappointment to his future family. He's a male nurse and they are all doctors or married to doctors. Kevin also has another thing going for him, he isn't burdened with the horrible last name of Focker - a name pronounced with added inflection each time it's said.

Meet the Parents mixes fantastic casting, writing that mixes intelligent comedy with slapstick physical humor, and a premise that's hard to beat. This movie had me laughing out loud in the theatre, so much so that I had to buy the DVD just to hear the parts I missed. The DVD version comes with some classic outtakes showcasing DeNiro and his out of control laughter (the outtakes alone are worth the price of the DVD). If you didn't catch it in the theatre - or if you did but need a good laugh - watching Meet the Parents is a great way to spend an evening at home.

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, drug references and language.


Directed by: Jay Roach
Produced by: Robert DeNiro and Jay Roach
Screenplay/Story by: Greg Glienna, Mary Ruth Clarke, Jim Herzfeld, and John Hamburg
Cinematographer: Peter James
Original Music by: Randy Newman
Production Designer: Rusty Smith
Casting: Ellen Chenoweth
Gaylord "Greg" Focker - Ben Stiller
Jack Byrnes - Robert DeNiro
Dina Byrnes - Blythe Danner
Pam Byrnes - Teri Polo
Kevin Rawley - Owen Wilson
Debbie Byrnes - Nicole DeHuff
Denny Byrnes - Jon Abrahams
Larry Banks - James Rebhorn
Linda Banks - Phyllis George

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