But the movie instead tries to be a gushy romantic comedy where everyone learns to love one another in the end. Smaller scenes are also ruined. In one scene, DeNiro confronts Stiller about his presumed drug use inside the changing booth of a men's clothing store. If Roach had been inventive at all, he would have used the space in the booth for maximum comic advantage. Keaton was wise enough to shoot from above, so that we could witness every cramped move.
Roach blows it by shooting medium-close on the two faces and cutting back and forth.
The movie does have a small silver lining. He has an irresistible good-old boy lunkhead kind of charm, and he has a gift for making every line of dialogue his own, as if he's making it up right here and now out of his own backwards little head. This guy is awfully good, and he brings Meet the Parents to life for a moment. Anyone in his situation would know better than to do the things he does. He's an annoying moron.