Deniro And Stiller Worked Well Together

Rating: 7/10 (22 December 2011)

What made this movie work so well was the combination of Robert Deniro and Ben Stiller. Both very good actors, put together they did a wonderful job of making this a very funny movie, largely by playing their roles so seriously. Stiller's character of Greg Focker was one any man can relate to - if you've ever been in the position of having to meet your girlfriend's father for the first time. In this case, the pressure was really on. Greg wants to marry Pam (Teri Polo) but finds out that her father would expect to give his permission before he even asks. So he accompanies Pam home for her sister's wedding, and discovers that Jack (Deniro) isn't your average, everyday potential father in law. Instead, he turns out to be an ex CIA agent who's extremely protective of his daughters and has more than a few quirks of his own - not the least of which is an obsession with his cat, Mr. Jinks. Desperately trying to impress Jack (or at least trying not to get on his bad side) Greg ends up unintentionally causing chaos in the home. He breaks the urn holding Jack's mother's ashes; he lets Mr. Jinks outside and loses him; he accidentally breaks Pam's sister's nose while playing volleyball; he sets fire to the backyard; he causes the septic tank to overflow. If that sounds like it might be going a bit overboard, it really doesn't go overboard. It never falls into mere slapstick humour. Greg's misadventures all seem very natural and believable. It's simply that nothing goes right on this weekend with his potential in-laws, and the end result is that Jack becomes convinced that this guy isn't good enough for his beloved first born daughter - a feeling compounded by the fact that her sister is marrying a doctor who's also the son of a doctor, while Greg is a nurse. Deniro and Stiller played off each other perfectly and produced a number of very funny scenes together.
The movie was weakened a bit, in my opinion, by supporting performances that weren't as strong. Polo was very much in the background. She was likable enough, but added really very little to the movie (except that her character was necessary to push forward the tension between Jack and Greg.) Blythe Danner was underused as Pam's mother, and I found Owen Wilson's character of Kevin (Pam's ex-fiancé) to be irritating more than anything, and maybe a little too much for the story.
Overall, though, this is an enjoyable movie; one of the better comedies of recent years. (7/10)