Meet The Parents Review

Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) is desperately in love with Pam (Teri Polo) but his first attempt at proposing to her is aborted when a chance telephone call makes it all too clear that the way to Pam's heart is through her father. If he wants Pam's hand Greg has to ask her father first, which is fine except for the fact that Pam's doting father is ex-CIA man Jack Byrnes, played by Robert De Niro, who's every bit as intense and unhinged as his previous characters in "Taxi Driver" and "Cape Fear". The harder Greg tries to fit in with Pam's picture perfect family the worse he messes things up, especially with her father. Like it or not, he now finds himself struggling with that age-old dilemma: what do you do when you're in love with an angel with parents from hell

The fact that "Meet The Parents" topped the US box office for four weeks means it comes to the UK with high expectations, but "Meet The Parents" isn't so much an outstanding comedy as the least poor movie in the recent crop of mediocre releases. It's charming and funny but ultimately "Meet the Parents" is no comedy classic.