Great Film: Meet the Parents
Very funny - but the real strength of the film is being able to relate to the characters
Our story begins when a male nurse named Greg Focker (Stiller) is about
to propose to his girlfriend, Pam (Teri Polo); unfortunately, things
come to worst and before Greg can say, "Will you marry me?" he finds
out that Pam's father, Jack (Robert De Niro) approved of Pam's sister's
fiancé because he asked Jack's permission to marry her first. Taken
aback, Greg decides to wait until tomorrow, whence they are going to
meet Pam's parents, and ask Jack for approval before proposing to Pam.
Should be a piece of cake, right? Wrong. Pam's mother (Blythe Danner)
is very nice, but herein lies the problem: Not only is it apparent from
the start that Pam's plant-expert father is not really a plant-expert
(as Greg learns after Jack doesn't seem to recognize a plant Greg gives
to him--one of the rarest plants in the world), but it turns out Jack
is really in the CIA and was a "human lie detector," as Pam herself
puts it. In fact, Jack even gives Greg a lie detector test in one scene
to see if he liked the dinner earlier in the evening. "Yes," Greg
replies, to see the needle jumping. "Well, it was a little rare for my
tastes, maybe." Greg, desperately seeking approval (and nervous as
ever), seems to unintentionally cause mayhem in his possible
parents-to-be's home. Nerves shot like a drug addict, Greg is the
definition of a nervous wreck, and all his problems seem to escalate
more and more until a funny-if-sappy comedic showdown.
You know how sometimes you are really nervous, but try to hide the
fact? You seem to keep your cool, until you do something, then all your
nervousness explodes and you start knocking over things, saying stupid
things--single-handedly DOING stupid things that you just never do? And
then you look around and everyone is looking at you like you are some
sort of freak? Well, that's how it is with Greg's character in "Meet
the Parents"--he is so easy to identify with. Just like all of us, we
want to keep our cool and impress people--but once we lose it, the
coolness seems to slip farther and farther away from our grip until we
are klutzes on feet. For Greg's character, small things turn bigger and
bigger and bigger--from knocking over the remains of Jack's mother (and
having a cat go to the bathroom on the remains), to setting the house
on fire and busting the septic tank. Situations seem to escalate
farther and farther out of control and they just keep getting worse and
worse.
In one scene, Greg tries to impress everyone while playing volleyball
in a pool. His team is losing because of him. "Get up and hit the
ball," Jack says to him. So the next time the ball comes around to
Greg, he jumps up and smacks the ball with all his might, sending it
flying towards...Pam's sister (whose wedding is the next day),
shattering her nose. Greg lands back in the pool and seems to be happy,
until he realizes he smacked his sister-in-law-to-be in the nose. Then
everyone looks at him like he's an insensitive idiot.
Things like that have happened to me countless times, and that is why I
can so easily identify with Greg. People are yelling at Greg to do
something, and when he finally does it, it backfires and everyone looks
at him like he's stupid, even though he did exactly what he was told.
That's the kind of thing that makes this movie so great--not only is it
extremely funny, but we can easily identify with the main character
countless times throughout the film. That is, perhaps, the best thing
about this comedy.
Cast
- Gaylord 'Greg' Focker played by Ben Stiller
- Pharmacy Clerk played by Judah Friedlander
- Kevin Rawley played by Owen Wilson
- Atlantic American Flight Attendant played by Kali Rocha
- Pam Byrnes played by Teri Polo
- Dr. Larry Banks played by James Rebhorn
- Jack Byrnes played by Robert De Niro
