Friday, March 4, 2016

year 5 day 93

movie: Meet the Parents
starring:Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller
genre: Comedy
year: 2000
format: Netflix Canada

plot: Wanting to ask his girlfriend to marry him, an average guy ends up in a string of unlucky events while visiting her family for a weekend, during her sister's wedding.

This is a loosely based remake of the 1992 movie.

This is sort of an off kilter buddy comedy, with all the chemistry between De Niro and Stiller. The father being a CIA agent, seems at times over the top but still manages to make perfect sense, in proportion to the rest of the storyline. It's one of those every thing that could go wrong will, films. From the lawn getting flooded by a bad sewer drain, to loosing the family pet, to disfiguring the bride.

I got the impression the core of this was about perception. The idea that the dad is a human lie detector is brought up constantly, as the leads are put through these over the top awkward moments of telling the truth. As well as the character of the ex-boyfriend; played by Owen Wilson, who seems to need to constantly try to impress everyone.  There is also this running gag of how everyone seems to be looking down their noses at the fact the Stiller character is a nurse. They keep trying to push him into becoming a doctor, making cracks about him not having gone that route.

what did I learn? it's time to give us a movie without Stiller and Wilson connected at the hip

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