Meet the Parents (2000)

Male nurse Greg Focker meets his girlfriend's parents before proposing, but her suspicious father is every date's worst nightmare.

Director:

Jay Roach

Writers:

Greg Glienna, Mary Ruth Clarke,

Stars:

Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Teri Polo

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 7 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert De Niro	...	Jack Byrnes
Ben Stiller	...	Gaylord 'Greg' Focker
Teri Polo	...	Pam Byrnes
Blythe Danner	...	Dina Byrnes
Nicole DeHuff	...	Deborah Byrnes
Jon Abrahams	...	Denny Byrnes
Owen Wilson	...	Kevin Rawley
James Rebhorn	...	Dr. Larry Banks
Thomas McCarthy	...	Dr. Bob Banks
Phyllis George	...	Linda Banks
Kali Rocha	...	Atlantic American Flight Attendant
Bernie Sheredy	...	Norm the Interrogator
Judah Friedlander	...	Pharmacy Clerk
Peter Bartlett	...	Animal Shelter Worker
John Elsen	...	Chicago Airport Security

Storyline

A Jewish male nurse plans to ask his live-in girl friend to marry him. However, he learns that her strict father expects to be asked for his daughter's hand before she can accept. Thus begins the visit from Hell as the two travel to meet Mom and Dad, who turns out to be former CIA with a lie detector in the basement. Coincidentally, a sister also has announced her wedding to a young doctor. Of course everything that can go wrong, does, including the disappearance of Dad's beloved Himalayan cat, Jinxie.

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Plot Keywords:

male nurse | nurse | cia | cat | mishap | 

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Taglines:

He finally met the girl of his dreams. Too bad her dad's a nightmare.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Official Sites:

Universal Pictures and Dreamworks LLC

Country:

USA

Language:

English Thai Spanish Hebrew French

Release Date:

6 October 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Meine Braut, ihr Vater und ich

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$55,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£2,261,785 (UK) (15 December 2000)

Gross:

ESP 2,256,312,819 (Spain) (29 June 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, DreamWorks SKG, Nancy Tenenbaum Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Julia Stiles auditioned for the part of Pam, but dropped out due to filming 10 Things I Hate About You.

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Goofs

When Jack is entering the code to arm the alarm system, 7 beeps can be heard - which is not possible, the MA1000e has 4-digit user codes and requires no "enter" afterwards. Even if he arms with bypass, even number of keypresses would be required.

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Quotes

Greg Focker: Hey Jack, why don't you tell 'em about your little phone call in Thai.
Dina Byrnes: Jack can't talk Thai.
Greg Focker: Oh no, Dina, Jack can talk Thai. Jack talked Thai real well.

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Crazy Credits

During the opening logos, the singers in the theme music are lyrically commenting "Look at the light coming out of the earth" during the Universal logo, and "Look at the boy sitting on the moon" during the Dreamworks logo.

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Connections

Referenced in NYPD Blue: Meet the Grandparents (2003)

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Soundtracks

"Tiny Bubbles"
Written by Leon Pober
Performed by The Waikiki Community Singers
Courtesy of Criterion Music Corp.

User Reviews

Hilarious!

I noticed that some people have said that the gags in this movie are unfunny and predictable... they complained about not very many laugh-out-loud gags. I completely disagree.

This movie is one of the smartest comedies of the last few years. It does not rely on gross-out gags (like Something About Mary, etc...) and still manages to be hilarious. All of the humor is contained in the intelligence of the writing and the tenseness of the situations in the movie. Yes, you feel very sorry for Greg, but it feels OK in this movie to laugh at his expense.

When I initially saw the previews for this movie a few years ago I had no desire to see it, as it seemed like it would be just like any other generic comedy. I only ended up seeing it because I had nothing better to do some random Friday night. I was very pleasantly surprised!

This movie is not at all a generic comedy. The gags are brilliantly crafted and completely original. I think that people who think this movie is generic do not appreciate intelligent, non-bathroom humor. The praying scene and Jack's poem at the dinner table are brilliant. Also Greg's run-in with the flight attendant is great.

Maybe the thing that really did it for me in this movie is that, despite their weirdness, Pam's family is completely believable and real. I actually know people like that. There is a whole culture of upper-class people who really do behave like the Byrnes family in this movie. I thought it was hilarious that the movie was making fun of that culture (I am also reminded of the groom's family in My Big Fat Greek Wedding). That part really struck home with me and made the movie even more funny.

Great movie! Not generic at all! Very original and laugh-out-loud funny.