Fearing Papa De Niro

Rating: 7/10 (13 February 2005)

For a man, there is nothing worse than meeting your woman's father. Fear and trepidation do not even begin to describe what it's like to meet the father. And nothing can prepare any man for meeting your girlfriend's father when he is Robert de Niro. This is the main problem Ben Stiller's character faces in the 2000 surprise comedy Meet The Parents. Stiller plays a male nurse with the unfortunate name of Greg Focker, dating pre-school teacher Pam Byrnes played by Teri Polo. Pam's sister is getting married back in her native Long Island, so a weekend trip is in store for the happy couple. After losing his luggage and being spit up on my a baby, Greg meets the man of the house Jack Byrnes (de Niro). Through various misunderstandings and lying to cover up the misunderstandings, Greg begins to fall out of favor with Jack. Stiller has a wonderful knack of displaying insecurity, and that severs him well in Meet the Parents. He knows he is not living up to the standards of Jack, especially when he meets Pam's former fiancé, played by Owen Wilson. The more uncomfortable Greg is, the more he squirms, the more he lies, and the deeper he gets. The final scenes are great, especially the one dealing with the airline workers who are on autopilot, and poor Greg almost causes an international incident. The movie is cute, has plenty of laughs, and puts most men into a situation they can relate to, and fear more than an all-day Oprah marathon.