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Meet the Parents (2000)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:138
Fresh:116
Rotten:22
Average Rating:6.9/10
Consensus: This upbeat comedy is hilarious and, at the same time, believable and something people can relate to.
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Genre: Comedies
US Box Office: $164,454,835
Synopsis:
Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) is head over heels in love with his girlfriend Pam (Teri Polo), and is ready to pop the big question. When his attempt to propose is thwarted by a phone call with the news...
Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) is head over heels in love with his girlfriend Pam (Teri Polo), and is ready to pop the big question. When his attempt to propose is thwarted by a phone call with the news that Pam's younger sister is getting married, Greg realizes that the key to Pam's hand in marriage lies with her formidable father, Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro).
A trip to New York for her sister's wedding seems just the right occasion for Greg to ask Pam to be his wife. But everything that could possibly go wrong, does.
Upon his arrival at the family's picturesque, Norman Rockwell-like home, Greg is greeted by what appears to be the picture-perfect family: a loving husband and wife with a doting son and two daughters and a beloved cat. But for a guy who usually resorts to dry wit in stressful situations, Greg is suddenly shooting blanks with Jack, a retired horticulturist…and rather imposing figure. No one is good enough for Jack's first-born daughter, and the fact that Greg is a cat-hating male nurse with a vulgar-sounding last name is not helping things at all.
While Greg bends over backwards to try and make a good impression, his weekend begins with lost luggage at the airport and turns into a hilarious series of one disaster after another.
Starring: Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner
Starring: Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner, James Rebhorn, Owen Wilson, Thomas McCarthy, Jon Abrahams, Phyllis George, Nicole DeHuff
Director: Jay Roach
Director: Jay Roach
Screenwriter: Jim Herzfeld, John Hamburg
Producer: Nancy Tenenbaum, Jane Rosenthal, Jay Roach
Composer: Randy Newman
Studio: Universal Pictures
Reviews for Meet the Parents
Deliciously funny and warmly poignant, it's a treat to Meet the Parents.
Alas, poor Focker. He can't help himself. And we can't help ourselves from falling about, equally helpless, at this superbly antic movie.
Packed with cringe-worthy moments from beginning to end, Jay Roach's comedy is for anyone who has ever endured a weekend in the company of potential in-laws.
Owes about 55 percent of its charm to De Niro, who can be hilarious just sitting there.
Director Jay Roach of the Austin Powers films keeps the pace brisk, and the script by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg ably piles the pratfalls ludicrously high.
Stiller portrays a human accident better than anyone and he definitely knows how to extort laughs and sympathy from his audience
Contains enough belly-laughs and sly jokes to become one of the bigger crowd-pleasers of the fall.
What saves the movie from remaining an exercise in self-parody for all involved is director Roach's feel for the material.
Never before have two such skilled actors been so monstrously squandered in a movie so replete with failed gags and pathetic gaffes.
An entertaining little outing, but not something that will stay with me.
The best American comedy of 2000. It has wit, slapstick and romance -- as well as an improbable comedy team in Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller
Does the usual Hollywood bit of setting up the gags way in advance so that even a coma patient can spot them.
Latest News for Meet the Parents
February 20, 2009:
Weekly Ketchup: Meet the Little Fockers
This week's movies are a surprising batch of mostly original concepts (no remakes and just one sequel), and star-studded to boot, including new movies for Ben Stiller, Tom... More...
November 18, 2008:
More Fockers for Stiller? ![]()
According to Roger Friedman at Fox News, the wheels are turning on another "Meet the Parents" sequel. More...
May 21, 2008:
More Austin Powers, Meet the Parents Sequels? ![]()
According to producer/director Jay Roach, we may yet see more sequels in the Austin Powers and Meet the Parents franchises. More...
February 26, 2007:
Yep, "Little Fockers"
Isn't it hilarious how "Fockers" sounds so much like a rrrrreally dirty word? So funny, in fact, that the gag is about to inspire its second film! Expect the whole... More...
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