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:

No pressure.

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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

The MPAA would not allow the name 'Focker' unless the film makers could find an actual person with that surname.

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Goofs

The positions of the broken pieces of the urn change between shots.

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Quotes

Greg Focker: [on the phone] Yeah, you gave me the wrong suitcase. Uh-huh. Yes, it's a black Samsonite. Uh-huh. Ok, well don't you think that the Samsonite people, in some crazy scheme in order to make a profit, MADE MORE THAN ONE BLACK SUITCASE?

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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 Kehtaa Hai Dil Baar Baar (2002)

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Soundtracks

"Got to Get My Mojo Working"
Written by Preston Foster
Performed by Randy Newman
Randy Newman appears courtesy of DreamWorks Records

User Reviews

One of the funniest comedies of the year, De Niro and Stiller make the perfect comedy pair. *** (out of four)

MEET THE PARENTS / (2000) *** (out of four)

By Blake French:

The main character in "Meet The Parents" is a Chicago-based male nurse, Greg Focker (pronounced just how it is spelled) who realizes how unlucky a person can be. He is about to propose to his schoolteacher girlfriend, Pam (Teri Polo), when her sister Debbie (Nicole Dehuff) calls and explains that her new fiancé, Dr. Bob Banks (Tom McCarthy), received a blessing from her father before he asked the question. This information makes Greg reconsider his method of choice, and instead jumps at the opportunity to meet Pam's overprotective parents when they fly to the east coast two weeks later to arrange Debbie's wedding.

At the airport, the attendants loose Greg's parcels. Thus he arrives without any luggage. Once at Pam's parent's house, they exchange greetings and aquatint themselves with each other. Pam's parents, Jack and Dina Byrnes (Robert De Niro and Blythe Danner) learn about Greg's unusual last name, that he does not like cats, and is a male nurse, all facts that do not settle well with Pam's father. Greg does manage to gift Jack with a pleasant supply of rare flowers. However, even though Pam explained to Greg that her dad is in the hobby of rare flowers, he does not seem too impressed.

Even More complications ensue, especially when Greg learns of Jack's peculiar behaviors and suspicious gadgets, such as a polygraph and hidden cameras placed in every room of the house, as well as meeting Pam's brother, Denny (Jon Abrahams), and Debbie's soon to be in laws, Larry (James Rebhorn), and Linda Banks (Phillis George), and Pam's wealthy ex-fiancée, Kevin Rawley (Owen Wilson). Soon, Greg's chances of receiving Jack's permission to wed his daughter become less and less probable as his bad luck only manages to increase.

The film introduces Greg and Pam with silly quirks that come up later in the story. Pam's parents are also quite the treat; the movie does not go over the top but portrays them with serious humor and charismatic wit. It is De Niro and Stiller who make the movie, however. They form an very effective comedic chemistry, even more amusing than the likable shtick between De Niro and Billy Crystal in "Analyze This." The filmmakers take advantage of the phenomenal tension between Greg and Jack, and place them in one hilarious situation after another.

While outrageous and at times explosively funny, director Jay Roach takes the plot seriously. His previous films, including the Austin Powers films and "Mystery, Alaska," have had trouble with taking anything seriously. But "Meet The Parents" has emotional connections, develops solid empathy for Greg, and we really believe he has something precious that can be lost: Pam.

The movie does not completely develop romantic chemistry between Ben Stiller and Teri Polo, thus there were times when I simply did not believe the two were really in love. The relationship sometimes feels trite and contrived. There are also important plot nuggets left only partially examined: Jack's pot-head son, who could have contributed a lot more to the drug related material, is left as a plot device to provide another string of conflicts within Jack and Greg.

I really enjoyed the whimsical performances and opportune casting. Ben Stiller reprises his "There's Something About Mary" role, with cute charm and the obscured zany flippancy. Robert De Niro is perfect in a role he was born to play, with serious attitude that results in the main portion of the film's funny moments. Blythe Danner is also charming in a kind of role that is becoming all too usual for her.

"Meet the Parents" is one of the funniest movies of the year. It gives audiences with a solid story that does not interfere with the comic material, but contributes to it. The top notch performances and lively direction also raise the film to a higher level. During a year in which effective comedies are an endangered species, "Meet The Parents" is a landmark achievement in light entertainment.