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.Written by
John Sacksteder <jsackste@bellsouth.net>
When Greg goes to use the toilet and finds the cat in there, he turns the light on and off and the switch makes a clicking sound but the switch isn't flipped. See more »
Quotes
Jack Byrnes:
What are you driving there? Ford?
Greg Focker:
Yeah it's a Taurus. Yeah, we were going to get a mid-size, but I figure, hey, we pull down decent bucks. Might as well go all out, and pop for the full-size.
Jack Byrnes:
Sure. Interesting color. You pick it?
Greg Focker:
Oh, no, the guy at the counter. Why?
Jack Byrnes:
Well, they say geniuses pick green. But you didn't pick it.
See more »
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. See more »
Alternate Versions
The airline version contains some slight modifications to the scene where Greg is on the airplane to leave for home towards the end of the film. In particular, the shot where Greg pushes the flight attendant away as she tries to take his bag is cut. See more »
California Girls
Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love
Performed by The Beach Boys
Courtesy of Capitol Records under license from EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets See more »
This movie is almost painful to watch. You just feel sorry for Ben Stiller's character. He basically spends a couple days being tormented and humiliated by his girlfriend's family. There is no way anyone would put up with this crap in real life. I would have left the first night. He is intimidated and nervous around his girlfriend's father, and desperate for approval, so he screws up over and over, each time worse than the last. The father doesn't help matters, as he belittles and embarrasses the poor guy at every opportunity. (Sorry, I forget the characters names.) The girlfriend hardly does a damn thing to stick up for him. Then Dad's friends show up and join in on the fun. One scene in particular has them playing volleyball in the pool and they are ridiculing him for missing the ball. So then he overcompensates and ends up smashing his girlfriend's sister in the face with the ball. They all criticize him, telling him it's "just a game, Focker!" and act as if he meant to hurt the girl. Another is when he finally has enough and is leaving and the whole bunch stands on the porch and laughs at his given name, which we find out is Gaylord. The girlfriend says nothing, just letting the poor guy take another kick in the teeth after all the other humiliation he's been through for her sake. The entire family is totally unlikable, Focker is the only one I cared about, and that's only because I was forced to care by watching this poor guy get put through the ringer over and over. Then comes the contrived ending where everything is made good in about five minutes and he forgives all. If I were this guy, I would never speak to these psychos again. Sorry to run on so much, but this movie really affected me and I couldn't see how someone could laugh at this guy's misfortunes. Maybe it's just me...
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This movie is almost painful to watch. You just feel sorry for Ben Stiller's character. He basically spends a couple days being tormented and humiliated by his girlfriend's family. There is no way anyone would put up with this crap in real life. I would have left the first night. He is intimidated and nervous around his girlfriend's father, and desperate for approval, so he screws up over and over, each time worse than the last. The father doesn't help matters, as he belittles and embarrasses the poor guy at every opportunity. (Sorry, I forget the characters names.) The girlfriend hardly does a damn thing to stick up for him. Then Dad's friends show up and join in on the fun. One scene in particular has them playing volleyball in the pool and they are ridiculing him for missing the ball. So then he overcompensates and ends up smashing his girlfriend's sister in the face with the ball. They all criticize him, telling him it's "just a game, Focker!" and act as if he meant to hurt the girl. Another is when he finally has enough and is leaving and the whole bunch stands on the porch and laughs at his given name, which we find out is Gaylord. The girlfriend says nothing, just letting the poor guy take another kick in the teeth after all the other humiliation he's been through for her sake. The entire family is totally unlikable, Focker is the only one I cared about, and that's only because I was forced to care by watching this poor guy get put through the ringer over and over. Then comes the contrived ending where everything is made good in about five minutes and he forgives all. If I were this guy, I would never speak to these psychos again. Sorry to run on so much, but this movie really affected me and I couldn't see how someone could laugh at this guy's misfortunes. Maybe it's just me...