Opens October 6, 2000

Imagine this: You've bought the ring and you're ready to propose to your girlfriend. But before you can, she gets a call from her younger sister, who has just gotten engaged. And, wow, isn't it great that her fiancé thought to ask dad first? Oops, you hadn't thought of that. In Meet the Parents, neither did Greg Focker (Ben Stiller), a male nurse with a helluva last name who is head over heels in love with Pam (Teri Polo). So, it's off to New York to ask Pam's dad to give away daughter #1. Gulp.

The premise of Meet the Parents is a simple one, but the comic energy is genuine. The result is an amusing diversion that doesn't always hit its mark, but entertains nonetheless. And most of the entertainment stems from the painful situations that poor Greg manages to get himself into. Let's start with Pam's dad Jack. Remember the old joke about the father who comes to greet his girlfriend's date with a shotgun? Well, Jack doesn't need a shotgun because Jack is Robert De Niro. Who wouldn't be afraid?

Greg does his best to get on Jack's good side, but it's clear that he's in trouble from the start. Jack loves cats, especially his sweet Himalayan Jinx, and Greg prefers dogs. Greg smokes cigarettes and Jack thinks smoking is a sign of weakness. Greg is an urban Jew, not a countrified WASP. Could things get any worse? Always, it's a movie. Despite Pam's encouragement that her dad is a sweetheart, Greg finds out that he's anything but. In fact, he's an ex-CIA agent, which becomes infinitely clear after Jack decides to give Greg a lie detector test. From there, things just go downhill, especially when Greg meets Pam's filthy rich ex-fiancé Kevin (Owen Wilson), whose role model is Jesus.

The humor behind the film is simple, sometimes too much so, stemming from little more than Greg's constant blunders. Luckily, writers Herzfeld and Hamburg find the heart in these events, so that Greg doesn't come off as a complete idiot. The fact is that, given the situation, no matter what this poor guy does, he's past redemption and that's part of the fun. Unfortunately, by the third act, this all starts to feel a bit like a one-note joke. After all, just how many mistakes can a guy make, especially when they include losing the cat, flooding the septic tank, burning down an arbor and giving Pam's sister a black eye?

Still, the film manages to hold up, even with a rather maudlin ending. And the real secret here is the chemistry between De Niro and Stiller. Both are playing roles that are made for them and their scenes together are a combination of gleeful dominance (on De Niro's part) and unabashed misery (on Stiller's.) Stiller seems to be making a career out of playing hapless young men, but why not, he's so damn good at it. With Greg, Stiller takes on a role that could have been infinitely annoying and yet he manages to make the guy loveable. While his performance here doesn't display the manic energy of There's Something About Mary, it perfectly balances adult frustration with childish paranoia. As for De Niro, well, he's De Niro. All he has to do is raise an eyebrow and we cringe.

When it comes right down to it, Meet the Parents doesn't offer any surprises. It is a by-the-numbers comedy with a solid cast and a predictably zany script. It is neither brilliant, nor disappointing. Rather, it is a sturdy middle-of-the-road film, solidly directed by Jay Roach who restrains his wacky Austin Powers inclinations to cast an eye on the comic underbelly of Norman Rockwell's America.