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:

He's not losing his daughter. He's gaining a madman.

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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:

$9,222,334, 26 May 2003, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$20,440,627, 27 July 2003

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,905,032, 7 November 2003

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

Designing a movie wedding can be even more work than planning a real one, especially when you know it has to sustain tsunami damage. Production designer Andrew McAlpine approached the project with a sense of fun and glamour. Adopting a pink and white theme, the team used thousands of flowers to embellish the lush waterfront setting. McAlpine said: "Since Albert [Albert Brooks's]'s character is determined to make his daughter's wedding a flawlessly beautiful event," he explained, "we had license to be artistic and romantic."

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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

Jerry Peyser: "Normal as butter on mashed potatoes"? That lasted about ten minutes.

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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

Sunshine of Your Love
Written by Pete Brown (as Peter Brown), Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton
Performed by Ella Fitzgerald
Courtesy of Universal International Music, B.V.
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Welcome To My World Said The Agent To The Podiatrist

Judging by reviews in the press and the user comments here, this version of The In-Laws is a pale imitation of the 1979 classic with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin. I didn't find it so, this film has a lot of good laughs in it and some fine comic performances.

In his TCM tribute to his father Michael Douglas says that when he was starting out in the picture business he avoided taking roles as action heroes because he did not want comparison with his father. At this point though he's definitely not worried about that. The part that Michael Douglas plays, the CIA agent whose life prevents him from having any kind of home life that was done by Peter Falk in the original, I could easily see being done by Kirk Douglas in the Forties or Fifties.

Douglas's son Ryan Reynolds is going to marry Lindsay Thorne the daughter of a mild mannered podiatrist who has more phobias going on than Adrian Monk. But Albert Brooks as the podiatrist is just a little concerned about this mysterious father of the groom that keeps avoiding meeting. When Brooks and family eventually do meet Douglas, he bungles his way into a mission that Douglas is on. After that it's one wild ride from Chicago to Paris and back with both bad guys and the FBI trailing both.

The In-Laws has some very nice moments and the stars work well together. But the best performances are from David Suchet as the international arms trafficker who's gay and who Douglas convinces that Brooks is a regular Dirk Diggler. And the other great performance is from Candice Bergen who is Douglas's estranged wife and Reynolds mother. As she says she's the only one who really has her husband's number, but she's still crazy about him in certain ways.

This version of The In-Laws is an amusing comedy, a worthy next century successor to the original.