Meet the Parents

Day 189 - 7/8/09 - Movie #189

BEFORE: I'm in desperate need of a comedy - but one that's actually, you know, funny.

THE PLOT: Male nurse Greg Focker meets his girlfriend's parents before proposing, but her suspicious father is every date's worst nightmare.

AFTER: This is an attempt to take a common situation - meeting prospective in-laws - and mine it for laughs by showing a series of worst-case scenarios. And Ben Stiller usually plays the beaten-down sad sack role very well. I suppose this is funny, if you like watching awkward family moments and poorly-phrased conversations, things that most of us try to avoid. And of course this all plays out during a family wedding that turns into a disaster, mostly through obvious physical slapstick comedy. Oh, and repeated over-use of the sound-alike name "Focker" - some real lowest-common-denominator material.

I think at some point the physical comedy went overboard for me - seeing a whole family covered in sewage is a bit much. At some point it turned into laughing AT people instead of with them, and the scenarios became a little too outlandish. The confrontations between Stiller and De Niro are better, though - lie detector and all - and the resolution and romantic ending went a long way toward redeeming the film.

RATING: 6 out of 10 hidden cameras

DENIR-O-METER: 7 - Bobby D. proves he can do comedy, mostly by playing off of his usual tough-guy image. An ex-CIA man protecting his daughter - that's just a great role for him.