Not Very Funny

Rating: 6/10 (7 October 2001)

"Meet the Parents" marries two actors, Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller, fresh off hysterical comic films, "Analyze This" and "There's Something About Mary" respectfully. Each is reprising the type of role they had in the previous film. One would think that "Meet the Parents" should be a sidesplitting romp. Right? Wrong. Unlike their previous two films, "Meet the Parents" seems forced and contrived. Sure there are some laughs, but there is little humanity in this outing, it's more a cold fish. I found I didn't like either Stiller's or De Niro's characters. And the chemistry between any of the characters is missing. Therefore, for me, the jokes weren't funny, and were often disturbing. Yeah, I know most critics liked "Meet the Parents" and it made tons of money, it's just that I don't understand why.