Meet the Parents
Astutely discovered, subtly played and always hilarious, this own family farce marks a trade of tempo for austin powers director roach, who directs his perfectly matched stars, de niro and stiller, with a keen eye for comically exaggerated but immediately recognisable human behaviour. For jewish, cat-hating male nurse greg focker (stiller), a visit to his lady friend pam's wasp circle of relatives home quickly degenerates right into a nightmarish collection of gauche faux pas and embarrassing humiliations.
His creepy potential father-in-law, cat-loving ex-cia operative jack byrnes (de niro), cuts him no slack, the use of his professional psychological profiling talents to maintain eager to please greg at the again foot always. It begins with misplaced bags and ends with cat-painting, with masses of foot in mouth and a little firestarting in among. De niro has in no way been better; however, stiller's versatile and prodigious comedian expertise greater than allows him to maintain his very own. If the screenplay has a fault, it's an over-emphasis at the oedipal battle among the two males, which regularly reduces pam (polo) and her likeable ditzy mom (danner) to little greater than spectators. As pam's oh so best old flame kevin, wilson fares an awful lot better.