Ben Stiller can absorb punishment – both verbal and physical – better than most big screen comedians.
He’s been smacked by monkeys (“Night of the Museum”), dodge balls and even the sweaty armpits of Phillip Seymour Hoffman (“Along Came Polly”).
But his greatest smackdown came at the hands of his character’s girlfriend’s pappy in “Meet the Parents,” played by that infamous cut-up, Robert De Niro.
The 2000 film, released Nov. 30 to suck up the synergy of the new “Little Fockers” release, reminds us of one of the better comic confrontations in recent memory.
The movie surrounding the Stiller/De Niro grudge match is mediocre at best, but it’s worth revisiting just watch De Niro glare at his future son-in-law over a hermetically preserved lie detector machine.
Gaylord “Greg” Focker (Stiller) is about to propose to his girlfriend Pam (Teri Polo) when he realizes he better ask her father for her hand in marriage first. So off the couple go to Pam’s parents house to do some meeting, some greeting and some asking.
But Pam’s father, Jack (De Niro), isn’t your typical pappy. He’s an ex-CIA agent who doesn’t think anyone is good enough for his daughter. Let alone a squirrelly male nurse like Greg.
And so it begins, a battle of wits between Greg and Jack, and wouldn’t you know everything that possible could go wrong for Greg does. And then some.
“Meet the Parents” finds familiar humor in Greg’s calamities, and much of them feel beneath the talents of all involved. But every time a situation arrives pre-packaged for our entertainment, De Niro turns on the spigot and the laughs start to flow. His screen persona is so hard-wired at this point that by underplaying Jack’s spy games the effect is both chilling and hilarious.
And when he threatens to eject Greg from the family’s Circle of Trust, the comedy bubbles over.
The film ends on a predictably redemptive note, and credit a wonderfully relaxed Polo for making it feel like something more than a sequel set-up.
The Blu-ray extras include deleted scenes, commentary from key players like Stiller, De Niro and director Jay Roach, plus a segment on cat wrangling and a featurette on the inner workings of a lie detector machine.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Honestly, I didn’t care that much for “Meet the Parents”. For me, the funniest part was Ben Stiller dealing with the by the book flight attendant near the end of the movie.
That’s an excellent scene, Paula, and a creepy precursor to the post 9/11 flying world.
Agree with Paula. The airport scene is the best in the movie.
Stiller makes me laugh, I didn’t love MTP, but I thought he was great in some not very good movies like Along Came Polly and Heartbreat Kid. Even the boring Greenburg was much better due to Stiller.