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:

Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Teri Polo

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

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert De Niro	...	Jack Byrnes
Ben Stiller	...	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
Tom McCarthy	...	Dr. Bob Banks (as Thomas McCarthy)
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:

misunderstanding | father in law | male nurse | nurse | cat | 

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Taglines:

First comes love. Then comes the interrogation.

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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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Writer Jerry Stahl, who Ben Stiller portrayed in Permanent Midnight (1998), co-wrote the "cat milking" scene in this movie.

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Goofs

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.

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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.

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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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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.

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Connections

Referenced in My Wife and Kids: Meet the Parents (2003)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

A Terrible Movie

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...

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English Thai Spanish Hebrew French

Release Date:

6 October 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Meet the Parents

Filming Locations:

364 Port Washington Blvd, Port Washington, NY 11050, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$55,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$28,623,300, 8 October 2000

Gross USA:

$166,244,045

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$330,444,045

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Dreamworks Pictures, Nancy Tenenbaum Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1