parental advisory

Rating: 7/10 (17 January 2004)

This is another topic which has been extremely used in cinema: a young man who wishes to marry his girlfriend but first he's got to ask her parents the permission. And sometimes things don't go as they are expected...
By making this movie, it's clear that the director Jay Roach gave the actors a free hand perhaps so as to try to compensate an unremarkable plot. The success of the movie rests on their shoulders. I would grant a special award to Ben Stiller and of course to Robert De Niro who shows that as an actor he's always at ease and excellent after all these years spent in the cinema. Of course, we're obliged to recognize that the humor isn't always subtle, certain characters are nearly stereotyped (Owen Wilson) and the sequence where De Niro blames Stiller for not being honest whereas honesty isn't his strong point appears quite conventional. As Jack Lemmon said in "Some like it hot" (1959): "Nobody's perfect". But there are quite a lot of funny situations and hilarious gags.
So, a mastered topic that gives a spirited comedy.