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The In-Laws (Widescreen Edition)

The In-Laws (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $19.97
Your Price: $17.97
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Light & funny
Review: This is a light movie that doesn't require much thinking. So if you are in a mood to watch something fun with your family this is good.

It's about an under cover agent (Micheal Douglas) trying to catch the man who wants to buy a highly advanced undetectable submarine. While at the same time meeting his son's future in-laws & attending the wedding. He ends up involving his son's father in-law in the mission & there the comedy begins. Not much explanation goes into the spy/ submarine story, so it's a bit dissapoining there.

All in all enjoyable but not memorable.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Fun But Defintely Not Alan Arkin And Peter Falk
Review: This is a light, breezy comedy which is a remake of the 1979 film of the same name. Albert Brooks is Jerry Peyser, a Chicago podiatrist (Alan Arkin was a NYC dentist) and Michael Douglas (Steve Tobias) reprises Peter Falk's role as a deepcover CIA agent. The basic plot remains unchanged - as the wedding of their children approaches the unsuspecting father of the bride (Jerry) is drafted into duty to help the undercover agent (Steve) who is involved in a high priority attempt to foil an outlandish plot. The original film relied on the cleverness of the plot and the dry comedic talents of Falk and Arkin combined with the chemistry between them which developed on the screen. In contrast, technology is at the heart of agent Tobias' modus operandi in this film, and the action is much faster paced than in the original.

There are enough funny lines (with a few really hilarious sequences) and the pace is fast enough to make the film enjoyable light entertainment. Candice Bergen as Tobias' ex, supposedly mellowed through her conversion to mediation but in reality still extremely agitated by him, and especially the wonderful David Suchet as a gay arms dealer also provide some all too brief comic highlights. If you have seen the trailers or even just the TV ads, this is one film where they accurately represent its nature. So, if you have already seen the very highly recommended BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM (5 stars) and BRUCE ALMIGHTY (4 stars) and are looking for a reasonably funny comedy with no underlying message requiring any thought at all, this will provide a couple hours of entertainment.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Better then average
Review: This movie is better then average. It is meant to be a light
and funny movie and it meets those expectations.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Hmmm
Review: This one was OK.
However, I did enjoy the whole "Fat Cobra" which Jerry Peyser(Albert Brooks) did a great job with...though I did get quite irritated by all his questioning and insults to Steve Tobias(Michael Douglas). Michael did an excellent job as an undercover CIA Agent and that made it exciting, and all the antics that Jerry & Steve had to go thru together...but I thought Jerry sure could have cut out at least half his whining...

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Ugh
Review: This was the most pitiful remake ever! The chemistry between characters was non-existant as was the humor of the original. The original was far better.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Keeps you on your toes
Review: Well, the kids are getting married. As usual the in-laws-to-be come from different environments. How different you may ask? Well you will just have to watch and find out. The father of the bride Jerry Peyser (Albert Brooks) is a highly specialized doctor. His skills and training will come to play a crucial part in this story. The father of the groom Steve Tobias (Michael Douglas) is a fast paced, never home Xerox salesman. Jerry will soon find out how hectic the life of a Xerox salesman can be.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Quality remake.... of "Meet the Parents"
Review: Why? Why why why?

Well, there are positives to get out of the way first. Albert Brooks is an inspired choice to recreate Alan Arkin's role from the original "In-Laws". He brings to every movie a fully-formed nebbish ready to let loose 6 or 7 really memorable zingers, and this was no exception. Michael Douglas has played a very wide range of stock characters, if not necessarily deep. And the original "In-Laws" certainly wasn't technically perfect: it suffered from atrocious film editing. Why not spruce it up with some CGI submarines, more expansive stunt sequences, and a Paul McCartney soundtrack?

Most of the changes in the remake, however, don't make sense. Brooks is playing a Chicago podiatrist, not a Manhattan dentist. Michael Douglas has been saddled with a female sidekick, the likes of which Peter Falk didn't need. There's considerable more emphasis placed on Brooks's daughter and Douglas's son... so they can argue at length about his pre-marital flings. Candice Bergen has a strenuously unfunny cameo as Douglas's ex-wife (Falk was happily married in the original, albeit to a wife who had no idea what he did for a living).

Most noticeably, the witty humor of the original is all but gone, save for a few Brooks gags. That's all been replaced by a wide variety of warmed-over sex and toilet jokes, which have been funny in a hundred other movies since "The In-Laws" came out, and which are so familiar here that you'll laugh at the joke before it's even finished. Indeed, with the main character being a nebbishy Jewish medical professional from Chicago, and his co-star an over-the-top CIA agent, you'll quickly realize that this is a remake of "Meet the Parents" more than anything else.

The accomplished David Suchet shows up for a pointless role only faintly evocative of Richard Libertini's in the original. I'm sure that blatant gags about repressed gay terrorists are still funny somewhere, but it is possible to do a movie without them. Right?

I wasn't expecting a carbon copy of the original "In-Laws". However, I was expecting something lively and original. And this movie isn't it.


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