The In-Laws (2003/I)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Andrew Fleming

Writers (WGA):

Andrew Bergman (screenplay)
Nat Mauldin (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

23 May 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Thriller

Tagline:

The cake is going to hit the fan

Plot:

Right before his daughter's wedding, a mild-mannered foot doctor discovers that his new in-laws are international smugglers.

Plot Keywords:

Wedding | Private Jet | CIA | Father In Law | Slapstick

Cast

Michael Douglas	...	Steve Tobias
Michael Bodnar	...	Cherkasov's Bodyguard
Vladimir Radian	...	Cherkasov
Robin Tunney	...	Angela Harris
Albert Brooks	...	Jerry Peyser
Boyd Banks	...	Patient
Susan Aceron	...	Nurse
Lindsay Sloane	...	Melissa Peyser
Maria Ricossa	...	Katherine Peyser
Ryan Reynolds	...	Mark Tobias
Chang Tseng	...	Quan Le
Tamara Gorski	...	Yadira
Matt Birman	...	Agent at Restaurant
A. Russell Andrews	...	Agent Will Hutchins (as Russell Andrews)
Richard Waugh	...	Agent Thorn

Also Known As:

Ein ungleiches Paar (Germany)
The Wedding Party (USA) (working title)
Till Death Do Us Part (USA) (working title)
Wild Wedding - Ein ungleiches Paar (Germany) (DVD title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for suggestive humor, language, some drug references and action violence.

Runtime:

USA:98 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English | French | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:12 (video rating) | Iceland:L | Finland:K-11 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #39788) | Venezuela:PG-13 | Netherlands:6 | South Korea:12 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:M | Canada:PG | Germany:12 | Ireland:12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:7 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A

Filming Locations:

Cambridge, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Franchise Pictures

Trivia:

Working title was "'Til Death Do Us Part"

Goofs:

Continuity: When Steve and Jerry are on the plane to France, the clock next to Jerry reads 7:10. However, in the next shot during the same conversation the clock reads 12:00.

Quotes:

Jean-Pierre Thibodoux: To Fat Cobra in the flesh.

Movie Connections:

References Live and Let Die (1973)

Soundtrack:

Live and Let Die

lamebrained remake

`The In-Laws' provides 90-plus minutes of pure, unadulterated imbecility. This ersatz farce is a remake of the 1979 hit starring Alan Arkin and Peter Falk - material which, if this were a perfect world, would have been left rotting in the bargain bin of your local video store where it belongs. Instead, writers Nat Mauldin and Ed Solomon and director Andrew Fleming have seen fit to remount it, this time with Michael Douglas as the CIA agent who's been too busy out saving the world to forge a meaningful relationship with his son, and Albert Brooks as the uptight, neurotic podiatrist who learns he has to `stop and smell the roses' and live life to the full. The paths of these two mismatched men cross when their children decide to get married.

`The In-Laws' makes the mistake common to so many `madcap' comedies: it believes that by keeping the action moving along at a breakneck pace, we somehow won't notice that there really isn't anything all that terribly funny going on. The film could have been a riotous take-off on inter-familial complications (like `Meet the Parents'), but instead it degenerates into an anachronistic and wearying spy-spoof with the characters forced again and again into ridiculous and preposterous slapstick situations. The actors do their best under the circumstances, but the non-stop, frantic dithering on the part of both Douglas and Brooks becomes rather tiring after awhile.

This is one wedding you will definitely not want to attend.