Meet the parents had a lot of hype surrounding it when it came out in the cinema but unfortunately I didn’t catch it when it first came out so decided to wait for it to come out on video. Now it’s out on video and again, there is quite a lot of hype surrounding it’s release. Blockbuster Video Stores have gone all out on advertising that you can now rent it. It was featured in their monthly magazine as movie of the month and it’s also advertised on lots of the new Blockbuster Adverts you see on TV, so is it really all that good. Well, If you don’t want to read the rest of this opinion then the answer to your question would be yes, but it’s not quite as good as I expected, but then again, maybe I just expected to much!
The film is about a male nurse, Greg (Ben Stiller), his actual name being ‘Gaylord Focker’! Now, say that quickly and what do you get!? Greg is courting his girlfriend Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo) and wants to propose to her but soon finds out that he should really ask her Dad for his permission to ask his daughter to marry him. He’s never met her parents so it’s time for the embarrassing and crucial ‘Meeting the parents’.
So, it’s arranged and they turn up on Pam’s parents doorstep to be greeted by her Dad, Jack (Robert De Niro) and her Mum, Dina (Blythe Danner). Things have already gone wrong as Greg has lost his bag with the 22 Carat Gold ring in it at the airport so he really wants to get that back. Now, they are only on the doorstep of her parents house and already Greg is saying the wrong things! Jack loves cat’s and he has trained his cat to do tricks. He pampers it all the time, hey, he has even trained it to use a lavatory. Jack asks Greg if he likes cat’s and Greg answers that he doesn’t and likes Dog’s better. Jack is highly offended!! And it’s from here that the film really takes off!
Some of the jokes, actually, I’ll put that a different way as there are no jokes really…. Some of the things that happen in this film are hilarious and really do make you either chuckle to yourself or burst out laughing! Take the cat milking scene for instance. Now, I know if you haven’t seen the film you might be a bit worried now, but he doesn’t actually milk a cat! As you know, Jack loves cats so he talks about them a lot and Greg has got him into a tricky situation when he was looking at a magazine that had breast pumps in. Greg makes up that he was bought up on a farm milking animals. Later on that evening at the dinner table Jack asks what sort of animals Greg has milked and he doesn’t want Pam to know he has been lying to her dad, so he makes up this story about milking a cat! If you watch his hands, he does the finger movements you would need to carry out to milk a cat. Jack is just watching Greg with this unimpressed look on his face!
By now, Greg has already made himself look a total fool and to make it worse he is going to be meeting Pam’s sister, Debbie and her fiancé, Bob. Jack loves Bob as he is a high flying doctor who has done very well for himself. He does everything right and has already asked Jack for his daughters hand in marriage, so Greg has to live up to Bob, and being a male nurse is a step down from a doctor already and that comes up in the conversation! What’s more, Greg also has to meet Pam’s ex, Kevin. Kevin is also loved by Jack and they get on a treat! He’s also got to live up to Kevin as secretly, Jack would have preferred Pam to marry Kevin as he is also a high flying medical professional!
So, for Greg it’s pretty intense and he does some stupid things in his weekend with the family. Hey, he even knocks out Pam’s sister Debbie, walks in on the cat going for a pee in the toilet and then gets blamed for flushing the broken toilet which then overflows the cess pit which floods the garden with human waste!!
I’m not going to tell you any thing else as if I haven’t spoilt if for you yet, I will do soon. Overall, the film is very funny with plenty of surprises and makes for great light entertainment with a plot that’s very easy to follow. It’s not like Road Trip or American Pie type humour but is very funny in it’s own way.
If your looking for a good comedy that has plenty of those moments you can relate with but don’t want to watch a teen flick then I would recommend this film no problems. It’s 5 out of 5 from me!