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

According to Teri Polo, in the scene where she and Ben Stiller are making out on her bed and he fondles her breast, she stuffed cookies into her bra as a gag.

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Goofs

Debbie Byrnes calls her sister, Pam, to tell her that she has just gotten engaged and is going to be married in two weeks. Since the wedding is taking place at home, while this is short notice, it's possible it could have been arranged so quickly. Jack presumably has some experience in pulling together complex operations.

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Quotes

Jack Byrnes: So what if he took the MCATs? He's still not good enough for Pam.
Dina Byrnes: Who is, Jack? Nobody has ever been good enough for your Pam. I mean, do you realize that you never even warmed up to Kevin until she broke up with him? Maybe it's time you think about what Pam wants.

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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

Universal Studios released a Family Friendly version on DVD that re-dubs some of the profanity (the word 'shit' is re-dubbed to 'shoot' and cuts out some content.

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Connections

Featured in Hollywood's Top Ten: Cinema Cats (2011)

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Soundtracks

Wipe Out
Written by Patrick Connolly, Robert Berryhill, Jim Fuller (as James Fuller),
and Ronald Wilson (as Ron Wilson)
Performed by The Surfaris
Courtesy of MCA Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Great comedy

Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) is a male nurse, poised to propose to the woman he loves, Pam (Teri Polo) but the right thing to do would be to ask her father's permission first. During a weekend of getting to know them, he manages to make a strong impression; for all the wrong reasons. Her father (Robert De Niro) isn't quite what Greg has been led to believe, and right from the start he seems to have it in for his daughter's partner.

De Niro and Stiller play off each other brilliantly, and both of them give fine comic performances, with a surprising level of depth for comedy characters. This film is packed with slick gags, hilarious scenes and it has a really fun story; it's a comedy film that you don't want to miss.

8/10

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