De Niro, Stiller shine in respectable 'Meet the Parents'
By Joko E.H. Anwar
Meet the Parents (*** out of four stars); Comedy/Drama, 107 minutes; Starring Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner, Owen Wilson; Directed by Jay Roach; A DreamWorks SKG/Universal Pictures Presentation
JAKARTA (JP): Many people may just expect a string of jokes purely designed to gross the audience out in Meet the Parents, as has been the case in many recent comedies, or in any Farrelly Brothers' film, because of two reasons.
First, the film's director, Jay Roach, is famed for his contribution to Austin Powers, where he displayed his overindulgent passion for crude humor; and second, the movie stars Ben Stiller whose previous film There's Something About Mary was a phenomenally successful comedy which used a great deal of bodily fluid as its main comedy device.
However, Meet the Parents decides to deviate sharply from toilet humor territory and instead opts for the old fashion formula which relies on snowballing misunderstandings and sharp dialogue to generate the laughs.
One scene which deals with an overflowing septic tank is not even enough to betray the film's more decent approach.
Male nurse Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) has prepared a sweet way to propose to girlfriend Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo). However, he has to postpone the plan upon learning that Pam's father expects a man wanting to marry his daughter to first ask his approval.
Wanting to follow Pam's family custom, Greg decides to travel with her to Long Island to attend her sister's wedding where he will meet his future father-in-law.
Things do not go well for Greg as soon as they leave for the wedding. Some unfortunate events, including losing his luggage at the airport, foreshadow what he is about to go through.
As soon as the couple arrive at Pam's parents house, Greg falls under the suspicious eye of Pam's father, Jack, played by Robert De Niro.
Greg soon realizes that he is not dealing with some grumpy old guy who is overprotective of his daughter. Instead, he faces a man who is highly intellectual, and who uses his occupation as a botanist as a cover for his real, more daring profession.
No man will ever be good enough for Pamela and Jack gives Greg an extremely hard time in an attempt to thwart his marriage plans.
At first, Greg's problems only derive from cultural differences between himself and Pam's family.
Being Jewish, Greg is caught out when Jack, a pious Christian, asks him to say grace at dinner. At the crucial moment he ends up reciting lyrics from Godspell, in what becomes one of the many hilarious scenes in the film.
Becoming increasingly anxious, Greg has serious difficulty speaking, or even moving, without offending the sweater-wearing, cat-loving Jack, or becoming the object of Jack's sharp cynicism.
Soon, the weekend turns into total disaster for Greg. A small lie to impress Pam's family or a sincere gesture made with good intention suck him like quicksand into deeper trouble.
The thrill here is how much unintentional damage Greg manages to cause, similar to what we find in Bean with Rowan Atkinson.
At one point, Greg inadvertently hits a fragile urn containing the ashes of Jack's sainted mother with a champagne cork, and then unintentionally turns the Byrnes' front yard into a sewer. At one point he nearly kills Jack's cat and then almost destroys the wedding party before it even starts.
The pairing of Stiller and De Niro is perfect. Their unlikely bond is genuinely amusing.
Since De Niro is more gifted in serious drama, pairing him with a comic actor is a good setup for laughs. This was proven before in Analyze This starring Billy Crystal.
On the other hand, the emerging comedy icon, Stiller, plays comedy as great as De Niro does his dramatic roles.
As the film progresses, Greg and Pam increasingly seem like a mismatch. He's an average guy who is assumed by many that he is joking every time he tells them his true profession, while Pam comes from a WASPy family.
Owen Wilson, who plays Pam's former fiancee, adds the perfect finish to Greg's unfortunate situation. Being a dot-com millionaire who owns a beautiful mansion, he is ridiculously successful and greatly favored by Jack. Not only that, he also has a special talent for woodcrafting and great taste in exotic destinations, to which he once traveled with Pam.
Blythe Danner plays Pam's mother with a luminous intensity. Her role confirms that Jack, no matter how nasty he seems, is indeed a good, loving husband and father.
As in There is Something about Mary, the non-comic actors save the film from the potential of being too silly. There is Something about Mary throws Matt Dillon among the funnies to fulfill this role, making that film much more successful than another Farrelly Brothers' effort, Me, Myself, and Irene, where the loose cannon comedian Jim Carrey is unstoppable and goes completely over the top.
Meet the Parents is based on a 72-minute comedy featurette written by Greg Glienna in 1992, which is reportedly a darker piece.
This version, directed by Jay Roach, was rewritten by Jim Herzfeld who wrote Meet the Deedles and John Hamburg.
Meet the Parents manages to avoid the predictable jokes, but also has several dull moments. Toward the end, the movie flirts with sentimentality, but not enough to damage the overall experience. So, despite any shortcomings, at the end of the day this film is still a winner.