The In-Laws (2003)

Right before his daughter's wedding, a mild-mannered foot doctor discovers that his future son-in-law's father is a free-wheeling international spy.

Director:

Andrew Fleming

Writers:

Andrew Bergman (screenplay "The In-Laws"), Nat Mauldin (screenplay)

Stars:

Albert Brooks, Michael Douglas, Ryan Reynolds

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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
Tseng Chang	...	Quan Le
Tamara Gorski	...	Yadira
Matt Birman	...	Agent at Restaurant
A. Russell Andrews	...	Agent Will Hutchins (as Russell Andrews)
Richard Waugh	...	Agent Thorn

Storyline

In four days, Jerry Peyser and Steve Tobias will become in-laws when their respective offspring, Melissa Peyser and Mark Tobias, get married. Married Jerry is a Chicago area podiatrist. He is risk averse to an extreme, afraid of heights including being in tall buildings and flying, even watching airline commercials. He is also extremely controlling, having organized the lavish wedding against the simple affair Melissa had envisioned. He is aggravated that he has not yet met Steve, who has missed one family function after another. Divorced Steve is a photocopy machine salesman... or so Mark says. In reality, Steve is a deep undercover CIA field agent, something that Mark knows but is unable to divulge to anyone, even Tracy and her family. His work, which has always overtaken his life, is the reason Steve has missed all these family events. Steve is unwilling to hand over reigns of his cases to his junior partner, the capable Angela Harris. Steve finally meets the Peysers, which Steve ...

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Plot Keywords:

wedding | father in law | private jet | cia | hyphen in title | 

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Taglines:

The cake is going to hit the fan

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Production Notes

Country:

USA Germany Canada

Language:

English French Mandarin

Release Date:

23 May 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Wedding Party

Filming Locations:

Showline Studios, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,319,848, 25 May 2003

Gross USA:

$20,453,431

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$26,891,849

Company Credits

Production Co:

Franchise Pictures, Gerber Pictures, Furthur Films

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

"The majority of us have gone through or will go through the process of getting married and meeting the new family," said producer Bill Gerber, setting the picture in its real-life context. "By the time you're in your 20s you've at least been a guest at a couple of weddings and you've watched your friends or family members plan their own ceremonies often enough to know the kind of stress and chaos that's part of it. I think all of us have our own war stories about that process." Now imagine that in addition to the logistics, scheduling conflicts, seating chart revisions, and other standard wedding planning concerns, you have to deal with the father of the groom kidnapping the father of the bride and dragging him into a top-secret international arms-smuggling deal just days before the ceremony. Add to that a posse of federal agents, an insanely volatile foreign crime lord and his nuclear submarine crashing the party on the big day, and suddenly "freesia or lilies of the valley" doesn't seem like such an important issue anymore.

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Goofs

A submarine would never be able to get into the Great Lakes undetected as Lake St. Clair's deepest point is 27 ft. The conn tower would be showing the entire way of the trip through the lake.

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Quotes

Mark Tobias: [walks in the men's restroom while Steve and Angela are sitting up the man Steve beat up] Oh, an unconscious person. You must be working.

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Crazy Credits

As the end credits start, the camera moves out over the water. After a while, we see and hear Angela Harris (Robin Tunney) waving and calling for help.

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Connections

Featured in Atop the Fourth Wall: ROMtrospective: ROM Spaceknight #1-40 (2015)

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Soundtracks

Delta
Written by Higher Intelligence Agency
Performed by Higher Intelligence Agency
Courtesy of Headphone Records

User Reviews

The In-Laws: Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks Give Up the Goods, but Where are the Good Supporting Roles for the Others

The In-Laws is a sharp, genuine comedy from director Andrew Fleming. The plot is good, but sometimes, it can feel predictable and completely out of whack, but sometimes it's good to have that in a film. Albert Brooks and Michael Douglas are given the most screen time with what I thought were genuinely funny and deeper characters than they appear, at times though, the Michael Douglas character is predictable with his inner self, but saves it with another great performance. Albert Brooks is funny in this role, in a way, he carries the light spots of this movie on his back due to sharp one liners, which I believe he may have improvised. But the really snores in this film come from the sub plot, a wedding for Douglas' son played by Ryan Reynolds and Brooks' daughter played by Lindsay Sloane. The problem with the sub plot, is it is just not funny or sharp enough, Ryan Reynolds was a complete miss-cast in this role, he just isn't funny. During this subplot, we see Candice Bergen slip into the picture in one of those one liner funny roles that she does so well. Overall, if not with casting of Ryan Reynolds, maybe neglecting the sub plot, with more heavy detail on the comedic action, The In-Laws would be a fantastic comedy, but what is done is done, and you are left wondering what could have been.