Focking Hilarious!!

Rating: Null/10 (6 October 2000)

MEET THE PARENTS is a comedy like STRIPES, ANIMAL HOUSE, and TOOTSIE. It's a film that you'll still be laughing after watching it five times, as much as you did the first time. As for director Jay Roach, I find this film to be his best personal achievement, far better than both AUTSIN POWERS films and MYSTERY, ALASKA. And after watching this film, you'll more than likely agree with me. Ben Stiller stars as Greg Focker (that's F-O-C-K-E-R), a Chicago male nurse who is in love with school teacher Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo). Just when Greg is about to propose to marriage to Pam, Pam gets a call on her cellular that her younger sister, Debbie (Nicole DeHuff) is getting married in a week after knowing the guy for a few months. But what is all right with this marriage is that they got permission from Pam and Debbie's parents, Jack Byrnes (Robert DeNiro) and Dian Byrnes (Blythe Danner). But it's Jack who calls the shots for the family. So as Greg and Pam head over to Long Island for Debbie's wedding, Greg figures that this is the perfect opportunity to get approval from Pam's father to marry her. But Jack Byrnes is very protective of his "first born child" and doesn't really care much for Greg. Greg is very nervous and worried around Jack, and who can blame him, Jack has got to be the most intimidating father of all time. As Greg keeps making accidental blunders around Jack, it makes Greg even more worried when Pam tells Greg that her father worked as a interrogation agent for the C.I.A. Also, Jack favors and adores Pam's former fiance Kevin Rawley (Owen Wilson), who is a multimillionare who is a carpenter for a hobby. So one mistake happens after another builds on top of each other making this a weekend of hell for poor Greg. Where director Jay Roach crashed with his last two comedies (AUSTIN POWERS 2, & MYSTERY, ALASKA) Roach scores again, if not his best score with this film. I found this along with CHICKEN RUN to be the funniest film of this year. I was laughing on and on again throughout this entire film that I nearly lost my voice. And what makes it better is that like AIRPLANE and A FISH CALLED WANDA the jokes keep on coming to by the end you're tired from laughing so much. Both DeNiro and Stiller do very great jobs in this film. Stiller is fun as the poor fella Greg, similar to his Ted character in THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, Greg tries his hardest to make things right, but they turn out to be the opposite. And Robert DeNiro is proving that his comedic work is just as excellent as his serious work. With, ANALYZE THIS, WAG THE DOG, and my favorite film of all time MIDNIGHT RUN, DeNiro is a natural with the comedy genre. And with this film, it shows that DeNiro still has his talent, after almost losing it in ADVENTURES OF ROCKY & BULLWINKLE. The rest of the cast are also good, but Owen Wilson stands out as the very impressive Kevin. Before Jay Roach was making this movie, he said that the script was "the funniest thing he has ever read." And by watching this film, you too can see on why this movie is so hysterical. If Roach continues to make more movies like this one, he'll be a stand out in Hollywood. It's a shame that the American Film Institute has already picked the most funniest films of all time. Since if they picked the films out later next year, PARENTS would have been at least on the top twenty as the top comeides of all time. Even when I sit and write reviews, I still get chuckles from thinking about scenes from this movie. This is quite a impressive fall season, after experiencing one of the most disappoining summers in film history. With PARENTS, along with TITANS, NURSE BETTY, and ALMOST FAMOUS it seems that this fall there needed to be a funny and witty comedy, and MEET THE PARENTS is it! Don't miss it!!!!!!!!!!!!! ***** (out of five)