Rating-7/10
Meet the Parents is a comedy and almost kind of romance movie that boats a stellar cast and some funny lines. The humour here is spread out well and the laughs don't just all come in one scene or the other, it makes you laugh at the end and the beginning too. I think the majority of the laughs are more physical than what they say, but what I will add is that when Greg(Ben Stiller) says certain lines, they come off brilliantly. I felt it was just about good and here below is why.
The cast here seem excellent and Ben Stiller as I mentioned is cast well in the lead role as Greg, his physical humour matches up to his line delivery and both combine very well. Robert De Niro as the father in law Jack is great as well, he somehow seems to mix serious but still feel funny and all credit to him on this one. Teri Polo as Pam, Greg's finance, is well cast and so even is Blythe Danner including people like Owen Wilson too to create a first rate bunch of characters.
It's written well, now what I will say is that the script doesn't quite produce as memorable scenes as some of the more physical jokes do but there still funny anyway. John Hamburg and Jim Herzfeld do a good job as I say writing this and both seem to combine past experiences well, with Hamburg who worked with Stiller on "Zoolander" yet again bringing out the laughs and the type of humour we have come to expect.
I think the director Jay Roach is probably the best thing in a way about this, yes you may say how is it not Stiller, but Roach is the master here when it comes to the most memorable parts, and a lot of the laughs. Roach seems to be able to not only get good delivery, but make things very awkward, and part of you even feels awkward watching it at times.
Now Meet the Parents isn't the funniest film you will ever see, if it is then there is much else out you need to see, but it does stand tall when it comes to comedy, and laughs can be had a plenty everywhere. I think although it is a typical comedy type plot, the jokes and the cast involved+ some memorable scenes create a movie that is new when it comes to jokes and even maybe creates a new type of Rom-Com.
On the jokes side again, pretty much any scene where it goes wrong for Greg is funny, whether he is hurt, hurts somebody or basically does something to destroy something, It makes not only Stiller's reactions funnier, but also how the cast react, just hilarious on that side of things. I also think how De Niro goes from actually kind of nice to angry in a matter of seconds is perfect, top class acting from the great.
So overall I think this is a good movie, just scraping into being good but still a good one. I think the reason it isn't great is that it isn't smart ENOUGH, it is smart but there could have been some better jokes or maybe even this type of plot just only works to a certain point. Nevertheless I can't recommend this more, whether you like Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro or any of the cast involved, your sure to have a great time and laugh a lot along the way.
