Meet the Parents combines a great drama actor, Robert De Niro, and a great comedian, Ben Stiller, in what can only be described as one long gag reel. Whereas Father of the Bride combines great comedic actors with a great script, Meet the Parents fails to deliver the script and ends up being a series of misfortunes for Mr. Greg Focker (Stiller). Meeting his in-laws for the first time, Greg is rightfully nervous, but when all of his best intentions go awry, while funny at times, they just get too complicated and over-acted.

De Niro plays an ex-CIA spy and an extremely protective father of his youngest daughter, Debbie (Nicole DeHuff). Going to such lengths as a polygraph test and hidden cameras to scrutinize his future-son-in-law, the movie takes a believable premise and turns it upside down with sheer stupidity at times.

Director Jay Roach tries to go to extreme lengths for a laugh that worked in the Austin Powers series with the same actor who delivered in Analyze This, but unfortunately, as good as it may sound, the combination of Roach and De Niro just doesn't pay off in this movie. Audiences will no doubt enjoy this movie because they might be able to relate to the experiences of Mr. Focker and the unbelieveable situations he gets himself into, but gag after gag just doesn't work in this film as well as it could have. Thanks, but no thanks - I'll stick to the classic Father of the Bride.

Genres: Comedy
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 108 minutes
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