There's Something About Mary Part II

Rating: 5/10 (5 October 2000)

Beware! In order to critique this film I may have to reveal some key plot points!! Turn back if you don't want me to spoil it for you!!! OK, you were warned... I had high hopes for this movie. The trailer looked quite fresh and amusing. The first act started out cute and light, establishing the characters quite nicely. Ben Stiller (Greg) plays basically the same mensch he played in 'Mary,' a likable schlub who only wants to marry his sweet, loving girlfriend and live happily ever after. But first he has to 'Meet the Parents.' Actually he has to meet her father, Jack, played by Robert DeNiro. Here he's basically playing the same jerk he played in 'This Boy's Life,' but now it's for laughs, I suppose. Me? I was squirming in my seat whenever Jack was on screen. He would make any possible suitor nervous. But how can you root for Greg, who is the main central character, when the script stacks the deck so clearly against him from the outset?
From the moment he arrives with his soon-to-be-fiancée at her parents' house, every single thing goes wrong. He says the wrong thing at every instance. He inadvertently lies because he is so nervous. Things get broken (and of course they are irreplaceable) and the cat goes to the bathroom on the debris. The cat! This cat named Mr. Jinx should have had second billing right under DeNiro's name. Jack is so in love with this cat, he immediately dislikes Greg when it is revealed he is more of a 'dog person.' And who tells Jack that Greg hates cats? His girlfriend Pamela! Oops, but what are you gonna do? Of course, Mr. Jinks gets lost. But how can we believe that Greg would be so naive as to think he could pass off a lookalike cat to Jack, its owner of fifteen years? Especially when the cat knows a myriad of tricks that no other cat could possibly know? Suddenly Greg is an idiot! According to the plot, Jack can read people. This means he can spot a liar a mile away. How can a man like Jack be so suspicious of everyone around him and yet not know his own son sneaks out at night, presumably to buy pot? This wasn't even played for laughs. It's simply an inconsistency in the plot. Later a bong is found in Jack's son's coat pocket. But since Greg was wearing the coat at the time, Jack thinks it's Greg's. Ha ha, it never stops. There are so many marijuana references, it's no wonder this movie was directed by a guy named Jay Roach. Seemingly insignificant plot developments are scattered throughout the dialogue to come back and bite Greg on the butt later on in the story. More truths are revealed between Greg and Pamela that only come out when Greg is on the spot with her dad. For instance, Greg buys a special gift for Jack upon his first introduction to him. It is believed that Pamela helped him select this gift (It's a rare flower that will bloom in six months.) on the condition that Jack used to be a florist. After Greg embarrasses himself thinking that Jack would loooove this little reference to his past profession, it's revealed he was never a florist at all. But who reveals this? Pamela! Why would she set him up for a fall like that? Some girlfriend! The writers of this thing even give Greg a silly last name to add insult to injury. You'd think with a last name like Focker, that every kid Greg ever knew growing up would have mocked him so mercilessly, he would have changed it or gotten used to it by now. By the end of this movie I was p***ed off because I felt cheated. I got more agitated by everything that went wrong for poor Greg. I just wanted him to get back at Jack somehow; yell at him or something. But, no. What does this script make him do? He takes his anger out on a dopey flight attendant whose only crime was making him wait until his row was called before he boarded his plane the hell out of there. Some comeuppance.
And the ending is from out of nowhere. Booooo! Liked the cat, though, and I'm not a 'cat person.' Take that, Jack.