Rating: 
Summary: Funny, Funny, Funny!
Review: I think this is one of the best comedys of the year! It was certainly entertaining and was packed with lots of laughs. Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro were hilarious! I couldn't stop laughing during this movie! This movie definetly deserves 5 stars!
Rating: 
Summary: I Smell a Sequel...........
Review: Ben Stiller's stutter with Robert Deniro's seriously intimidating looks were enough to make you laugh in this one. These two were a perfect team. I thought this movie might be one of those where all the best parts are in the preview, but that would have been impossible because this whole movie would have been the preview. There is maybe iI emphasize maybe one part in this movie that drags. Whether Stiller's on the screen or Deniro, your laughing at something they're saying. Even the cat was a great supporting cast member. The only thing I would have done differently in this one is let Deniro and Stiller have One or two more scenes with just the two of them on screen. You'll love it! 4 stars
Rating:
Summary: What a surprise! A winner on every level!
Review: This is a film that I winced at every time I saw its trailer. There was nothing funny about it at all and I initially thought it was a HUGE mistake on the part of DeNiro and Stiller to do a film like this. I had NO intention of seeing what looked to me like a one-joke, sophomoric film aimed at people in their teens and 20s, at the exclusion of the rest of us old fogies.So what happened? Opening week, good word of mouth, great reviews... So the next weekend, I went in and found myself howling out loud, doubled over at how crazy and deliriously funny this picture was. The thing you have to remember is that trailers and ads usually give away most of the best scenes and are solely responsible for getting people off their rears and into their cars and into their seats at the theater. A marketer's job is to make a bad film into a winner on opening weekend, at whatever cost. This is why so many bad films come up big at the box office on opening day and then peeter out in a couple of weeks. To make matters worse, I was unimpressed with the ads and trailers to "Meet the Parents." I hated the whole ad campaign as much as those dumb commercials on TV by an unnamed hamburger chain. But while watching "Meet the Parents," the context of these scenes were fleshed out and the result was equal parts nonsense and intelligence. It made the film a first class winner, the funniest picture of the year. Please note that I PAY to see more than 50 films a year, and I don't do it for a living. Seeing movies in a theater are a joy, and to me, time is more important than money. "Meet the Parents" lowered my expectations going in and it came out a winner, big time. It's on my list of the top ten pictures released in 2000. I was amazed at how the story piled on layer after layer of wild situations; it was like watching one of those great screwball romantic comedies of the 30s and 40s. The best thing about "Meet the Parents" is that the material is not, as one favorable critic put it, "dumbed down" despite its premise. You FEEL for Stiller's predicaments and his frustration as things get worse. And when it does, it doesn't make you feel exasperated, impatient or frustrated. It's hilarious. You also FEEL for DeNiro's suspicions as an overly protective father who borders on being chillingly insane. My favorite scenes are the "crying poem recital," the "drag race" (won't say anything more about those, see them yourself!) and the stuff going on at the airport. So the trailers had me fooled. Reflecting back, there were two keys to this film's success. The first key is the execution of each scene. You might not be impressed when someone tries to explain the film to you, but when you see it on the big screen, you see how there is a logical progression to the insanity that develops in "Meet the Parents." The insanity, it's hard to explain, makes sense when it plays out, and it doesn't take any marvelous or expensive special effects to "push" the comedy at all. It's played straight and that's what makes "Meet the Parents" funny. The second key to the success of "Meet the Parents" is the most important... Ben Stiller is so damned perfect for this role. Despite the sheer nuttiness of this film and the horrible situations he gets thrown in, Stiller's innate intelligence comes through. Despite what happens, he's not an idiot. His reactions are priceless and he doesn't play the role as a dufus. He's a guy with common sense who desperately wants acceptance by DeNiro. That's why you root for him. He's not overly attractive in any conventional way -- but his charisma as an actor in this role shines because he does what he does best -- and that is to play each scene like a smart guy who can't believe the things that can go wrong IN SPITE of the well thought out, meticulous planning and foresight that any smart person would do, and he demonstrates as much to the audience when he goes through the motions to try to please his fiancee's family in a big, big way. When he fails, he can't believe it. And neither do we. "Meet the Parents" is wall-to-wall fun, the most pleasant movie-going surprise of 2000. And the ending is wonderful. The last scene before the credits is practically given away in the trailer (again, I won't mention it), but where they put it in the film is priceless... Get it!
Rating: 
Summary: Can be compared to a Saturday Night Live Sketch...
Review: This movie can be compared to a Saturday Night Live Sketch. While it has an okay premise, and some funny jokes it is just not enough to base an entire movie on. It baffles me that people are calling this the movie of the year- Did they happen to see any other movies besides this one? The jokes have all been done before- and better. Run away dogs, accidental fires, uncomfortable silences. Hardly the makings for a "movie of the year". If you are a die hard Ben Stiller fan then by all means rent this movie. Everything else in this movie sincerely lacks. I am a Humongous Robert Deniro fan and I really hated everything about the movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Stressful Slapstick Humor
Review: This was a strange film for my wife and I; we both agree that there are plenty of funny gags that independently would make anyone laugh. Nevertheless, I think the film needed to ease up a little on the calamities and humiliations befalling Ben Stiller's character. Although we did our share of laughter, we left the theatre feeling rather stressed and/or uptight.
Rating:
Summary: Funniest Flick Of 2000
Review: In a year filled with less-than-par movies (especially those in the comedic genre) this was a breath of fresh air. I haven't heard a theatre audience laugh harder since 1995 when I watched "Dumb & Dumber". This is a similar comedy with a little more sense and a little less slapstick. Greg Focker is a nurse who, before asking his girlfriend to marry him, must visit her parents and o.k. it with them. Things seem to be going well enough when he picks up the wrong bag at the airport, causing the oncoming hell that is 'Meeting the parents'. Robert DeNiro stars as the father, an ex CIA agent who keeps a very close eye on Focker, and doesn't like what he sees. He mistakes him for a pot smoking, test-cheating, porno-watching liar who isn't fit for his daughter. At the comedic climax of the film, DeNiro even gives Focker a polygraph test. In the end, sides aching, this film left me more satisfied than I'd been walking out of a theatre in a LONG time. Although comedies typically don't get oscar nods, this one is certainly deserving. Lets pray for a "Meet The Parents, The Sequel" to save us from future movie boredom.
Rating:
Summary: One Joke Movie is Funny Enough.
Review: Yep, it's a long one joke movie. It's also very very funny and Robert DeNiro is better here than he was in Analyze This. It's got a few minor twists that aren't as obvious as you might think and when it turns cute and feel good it doesn't forget to be a little funny at the same time. I also appreciated it when the script tried for something a little less obvious and crude on several occasions. 3 and half.. rounded up to 4. Christopher J. Jarmick Author of The Glass Cocoon with Serena F. Holder-- a steamy suspense thriller Available February 2001.
Rating:
Summary: Yeah, well a lot of people buy Backstreet Boys albums, too
Review: ...and it doesn't make it alright. This movie was awful. How it managed to rake in so much money, I'll never know. Well... scratch that, I do know: appealing to a demographic. To put it mildly, if you are over 40, you might find this movie amusing. If seeing Robert Deniro hang around his suburban home in a yuppie cardigan with his airhead wife, incessantly yapping about inane topics, and preening over his beloved pet cat makes you smile, then maybe this movie hits close enough to home for you to see a reflection. Honestly, I laughed ONCE during this whole flick (two words: "kitty litter") but that was IT. Stiller plays the same whiny little schmuck he always plays, his "girlfriend" is about as compelling as an end table, Deniro is so obviously hamming up his unlikeable role as "tough father-in-law" that you can smell him coming a mile away, and his wife is... completely an accessory. The other players are bit-parts that make no difference. This movie just pillages the toilet jokes and "wacky" humor of so many of today's poor excuses for films (Something About Mary, any Jim Carrey movie) and then DUMBS IT DOWN a few notches for the sake of the over-the-hill crowd. The jokes are so tired and so predictable, and SO ham-fisted that it is truly an insult to the intelligence of anyone who sees this tripe. And I hope you all will see it for exactly what it is: slowing down the "comedy du jour" so the old folks can catch up. This is about as entertaining as Lawrence Welk at a Matlock convention. Will somebody please pass the prunes?
Rating:
Summary: What a Riot!!
Review: I couldn't stop laughing while watching this movie. Not only does Ben Stiller give one of his best performances to date, but Robert De Niro really does an outstanding job in this comedy as well. Jay Roach gives us this zany comedy about a male nurse wanting to prepose to his long time girlfriend but before doing so he must meet the parents (De Niro and Blythe Danner). From there on it's nothing but good old fashioned comedy. With a fun appearance by Owen Wilson, this movie will definately make you laugh more than a couple of times. Pick this up and enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Meet The Parents, review from Holland
Review: Went to see the film last week in the cinema with a couple of friends of mine. Ben Stiller played an excellent part, but Robert de Niro carried the whole movie he was magnificent. But I must give Ben Stiller thumbs up along side an actor like de Diro. I am not saying Stiller is Oscar material, but he was better then in most of his movies. I still haven't desided if I liked de Niro better in this movie or in Analyze This. Back to the film, some things through out the movie where really predictable example champange for "MUM". But the movie kept me in stitches from begining to end. Absolutly must see movie, even if you don't like de Niro. However I can't see that there are many people that don't like de Niro. Regards, Chris Howitt Please pardon my English I am from the Netherlands
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