• Pop Culture
    • Movies
    • Television
    • Comic Books
    • Video Games
    • Toys & Collectibles
  • Features
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Articles and Opinions
    • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Flickering Myth Films
    • FMTV
  • About
    • About Flickering Myth
    • Write for Flickering Myth
    • Advertise on Flickering Myth
  • Socials
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Bluesky
    • Instagram
    • Flipboard
    • Linktree
    • X
  • Terms
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy

Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

  • News
  • Reviews
  • Articles & Opinions
  • Write for Us
  • The Baby in the Basket

I Sat Through That #4 – Meet The Parents (2000)

July 26, 2009 by admin

In which Gerry Hayes considers Meet The Parents and punches himself in the face again and again and again…

Meet The Parents, 2000.

Directed by Jay Roach.
Starring Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Teri Polo.
Screenplay by Greg Glienna.

Gah! Nooo! How can one film have so much bad in it? Please, why do you make me think about it? Why? What have I ever done to you? Please, no more. Oh, sweet mother of stinkers.

These are just some of the things that ran through my head on considering Meet The Parents. As frequently happens with these things, I may be in a minority – from the box-office takings and the sequel(s) it seems there are many people out there who like this film. I can only assume that a lot of day trips were organised from a lot of care-homes for the simple and bemused. I imagine them all, sitting in the dark, a trickle of drool hanging precariously from their chins as they beam vacantly at the screen, generally having a good time in their feeble-minded way. I imagine them and I want to kick each of them in the groin because it’s their fault there are films like this.

Stiller is Greg Focker or more accurately, as we so hilariously find out, Gaylord Focker – Gay Focker, get it? Oh, my sides, my sides! He’s going out with Pam (Polo) and is off to her sister’s wedding where he’ll get to meet her parents for the first time. A nerve-wracking experience to be sure and one rife with comedic potential. Amazing then, that this film fails, utterly, to find any.

De Niro plays Pam’s dad, Jack. What happened, Bobby? Christ. Watching De Niro do comedy is like watching your hero, someone you always looked up to, get drunk at a wedding and start groping strangers before getting in a fight, falling over and pissing themselves while muttering profanities at your mum from his puddle on the floor. I hate watching De Niro do comedy. He’s no good at it. Have we learned nothing from Analyse This? Gurning moronically is only funny if you’re doing it for a baby. Even then, you’re pushing it. Please stop, Bobby. Please stop the horror (for ‘horror’, read ‘comedy’).

Where were we? Right… Greg’s an imbecile and Jack is both a grumpy twat and a retired CIA operative (although touched on elsewhere, the latter is something that feels shoehorned in, mainly, to fit the “hysterical” scene where he subjects Greg to a polygraph test). Greg’s desperate to impress and Jack hates him – nothing wrong with the premise but there’s such a massive dearth of subtlety that all the laughs are dragged from the film and replaced with an empty, wincing embarrassment.

No subtlety. No realism. No humour.

Meet The Parents is an incongruous, doleful bundle of unamusing gags, crammed awkwardly together and tied up with sticky strings of tenuous plot. It makes me sad.

Read more I Sat Through That? right here.

Gerry Hayes is a garret-dwelling writer subsisting on tea, beer and Flame-Grilled Steak flavour McCoy’s crisps. You can read about other stuff he doesn’t like on his blog at http://stareintospace.com or you can have easy, bite-sized bits of him at http://twitter.com/gerryhayes

Filed Under: Uncategorized

FMTV – Watch Our Latest Video Here

WATCH OUR MOVIE NOW FOR FREE ON PRIME VIDEO!

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:

Essential Gothic Horror Movies To Scare You Senseless

Underappreciated Action Stars Who Deserve More Love

The Most Iconic Cult Classics of All Time

8 Great Tarantino-esque Movies You Need To See

The Kings of Cool

10 Incredibly Influential Action Movies

The Essential Action Movies of 1985

Friday the 13th at 45: The Story Behind the Classic Slasher

7 Rotten Horror Movies That Deserve A Second Chance

Gladiator at 25: The Story Behind Ridley Scott’s Sword-and-Sandal Epic

Top Stories:

The hunt is on for Glen Powell in Edgar Wright’s The Running Man trailer

Movie Review – 40 Acres (2025)

Movie Review – Jurassic World Rebirth (2025)

4K Ultra HD Review – James Bond: The Sean Connery Collection

7 Mad Movie Doctors Who Deserve More Recognition

4K Ultra HD Review – Dark City (1998)

Movie Review – Heads of State (2025)

8 Great Tarantino-esque Movies You Need To See

STREAM FREE ON PRIME VIDEO!

FEATURED POSTS:

10 Great B-Movies of the VHS Era

Godzilla Minus One and the Essential Toho Godzilla Movies

The Shining at 45: The Story Behind Stanley Kubrick’s Psychological Horror Masterpiece

The Essential Movies About Memory

Our Partners

  • Pop Culture
    • Movies
    • Television
    • Comic Books
    • Video Games
    • Toys & Collectibles
  • Features
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Articles and Opinions
    • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Flickering Myth Films
    • FMTV
  • About
    • About Flickering Myth
    • Write for Flickering Myth
    • Advertise on Flickering Myth
  • Socials
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Bluesky
    • Instagram
    • Flipboard
    • Linktree
    • X
  • Terms
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy

© Flickering Myth Limited. All rights reserved. The reproduction, modification, distribution, or republication of the content without permission is strictly prohibited. Movie titles, images, etc. are registered trademarks / copyright their respective rights holders. Read our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. If you can read this, you don't need glasses.


 

Flickering MythLogo Header Menu
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Articles & Opinions
  • Write for Us
  • The Baby in the Basket