MEET THE PARENTS

  Cole's Rating: A
Thatcher's Rating: A-
Uncle Jesse's Rating: C

Year: 2000
Cast: Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Teri Polo
Genre: Comedy/Romance
MPAA Rating: PG-13



   De Niro. The very sound of his name brings up recollections of shoot-em-up, mafia movies such as Casino and Heat. But, as he has proved over the course of his acting career, he can pull off multiple different roles, one being the intimidating, retired CIA agent future step father by name of Jack Byrnes in the wonderfully entertaining romantic comedy about male nurse Gaylord ‘Greg’ Focker, (Ben Stiller) who travels with his girlfriend Pam Byrnes, (Teri Polo) to meet her family in attempt to win her parents affection, and get permission to marry Pam. Jack Byrnes truly is as tough as he sounds. He gives Gaylord the hardest time about dating his daughter in several circumstances that cracked me up so much that my gut hurt after the movie ended; however, his soft spot is how passionate he is about his furball cat named ‘Jinxy’ that is his most beloved living thing, or so it seems to the viewers. Meet The Parents is a humorous, clever story of a hard-earned romance with several mistakes along the way, one being the poor acting of Teri Polo, what is so surprising all the time? “Oh honey, I must have forgot to tell you about my ex-fiance Kevin!” Despite that, Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro stole the show with the amusing relationship and interaction between the two. Directed by Jay Roach, Meet The Parents made it to my list of favorites, which is not easy for a film to achieve!

Written by Cole Pollyea