SimonJack

The plot for "Meet the Parents" was good and had tremendous possibilities. But, unfortunately, the screenplay just didn't have the dialog to make a good comedy. And, the antics couldn't make up for the mostly blasé script. Indeed, Ben Stiller's Greg was a walking disaster who generated pity rather than humor.

Robert DeNiro, as a suspicious and overly protective dad, has a somewhat shady past in the first half of the film. He could act in comedy and seemed to give it his best shot. But again, there just was so little in the screenplay to generate laughs. I thought that about the film when I saw it in 2000, and had the same sense watching it again these many years later. Nor do I remember the theater audience back then giving more than a couple chuckles during its showing. One suspects the audiences then enjoyed the romantic relationship of Greg and Pam Byrnes, played by Teri Polo.

Stiller did okay acting in his role, and so did De Niro. Most of the other roles were rather plain and forgettable. Again, the protentional of this plot for a very good comedy was there. It's too bad, but there just doesn't seem to be a clutch of talented, imaginative and clever comedy writers so far in the 21st century. Certainly, nothing like the army of amusement creators form Hollywood's golden era into the 1980s.