 |
| The hilarious polygraph test scenario from the film makes up this great poster for Jay Roach's Meet the Parents |
Greg is a male nurse who is about to propose to his girlfriend. But before that he'll have to go through her parents, which is easier said than done.
Meet the Parents is written by Jim Herzfeld (Meet the Deedles (1998)) and John Hamburg (Safe Men (1998)) and directed by great New-Mexican filmmaker Jay Roach (Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)). It is a remake of the same-titled 1992 independent comedy by Greg Glienna (Desperation Boulevard (1998)), co-written with May Ruth Clarke.
Meet the Parents is a classical broad family comedy that works, creating mirth and eventual successful feel-good affect from feel-bad, anxiety-driven situations, as Ben Stiller's (School for Scoundrels (2006)) sympathetic Gaylord 'Greg' Focker has to pass through terrible ordeals to get his bride. Stiller and Robert De Niro (Everybody's Fine (2009)) as the intimidating ex-CIA operative father-in-law both give very accurate and highly amusing performances in many scenes in the film, where they successfully play against each other.
Meet the Parents is a rare treat of a comedy full of bizarre scenes and major laughs.
Related posts:
Jay Roach: Bombshell (2019) - Toxic US culture laid bare in Roach's great drama
Trumbo (2015) - Good actors and a thrilling true story make this biopic work
Dinner for Schmucks/Dinner with Schmucks (2010) - Carell carries Roach's flawed but utterly hilarious comedy
Watch a short trailer for the film here
Cost: 55 mil. $
Box office: 330.4 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned its cost 6 times)
[Meet the Parents was released 6 October (USA) and runs 108 minutes. Steven Soderbergh, Steven Spielberg and Jim Carrey were in talks to head a new big-studio version of the 1992 film, before Roach and Co. got the gig. De Niro got 13.5 mil. $ for his performance. Shooting took place from November 1999 - February 2000 in New York, including New York City, and in Illinois, including Chicago. The film reportedly had a 33.9 mil. $ marketing budget. It opened #1 to a 28. 6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, a new October opening record and De Niro's career's biggest opening up to that point. The film remained #1 in the following 4 weekend and then spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#4), grossing 166.2 mil. $ (50.3 % of the total gross). The film's international earnings sheet is regrettably not complete at Box Office Mojo, but its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets appear to have been the UK with 21.5 mil. $ (6.5 %) and Germany with 17.5 mil. $ (5.3 %). The film was nominated for the Best Song Oscar for A Fool in Love by Randy Newman, lost to Things Have Changed by Bob Dylan from Wonder Boys. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this one. The film enjoyed tremendous video sales, generating reportedly 200 mil. $ in North America. It inspired reality show Meet My Folks (2001) and sit-com The In-Laws (2001), and 2 sequels were made; Meet the Fockers (2004) and Little Fockers (2010). Roach returned with Austin Powers in Goldmember (2004). De Niro returned in 15 Minutes (2001); Stiller in Mission: Improbable (2000, TV short), P. Diddy feat. Black Rob & Mark Curry: Bad Boys for Life (2001, music video) and theatrically in Zoolander (2001). Meet the Parents is certified fresh at 84 % with a 6.93/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Meet the Parents?
No comments:
Post a Comment