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Meet The Parents
Universal Pictures


6.8

based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 36 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

Meet the Fockers

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sexual content, drug references and language

Starring Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Nicole DeHuff, Blythe Danner, and Teri Polo

When a young woman (Polo) takes her fiancee (Stiller) home to meet her parents (DeNiro, Danner), everything goes wrong.

GENRE(S):	Comedy
WRITTEN BY:	Greg Glienna (story) Mary Ruth Clarke (story) James Herzfeld John Hamburg
DIRECTED BY:	Jay Roach
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: December 31, 1969 Video: March 6, 2001 Theatrical: October 6, 2000
RUNNING TIME:	107 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Variety Todd McCarthy

A flat-out hilarious mainstream comedy.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

This buoyant, giddy comedy of catastrophe is the funniest film of the year so far, possibly the most amusing mainstream live-action comedy since "There's Something About Mary."

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

De Niro and Stiller combine to bring on laughs you don't have to feel guilty about.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Many belly laughs.

Mr. Showbiz Cody Clark

It's funny. Really funny.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

It's a bouncy, loose limbed, ''families do the darnedest things'' sitcom that elicits ungrudging laughs.

Slate David Edelstein

Has a soft windup, but along the way are some of the best-constructed slapstick sequences since "There's Something About Mary."

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

De Niro's performance works because it isn't exactly likable -- he's totally at ease with his own jokes, but he's not out to make us feel relaxed.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Roach knows to play to the movie's twin strengths: Stiller and De Niro. Throw these guys together, turn up the intensity.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

A hilarious hodgepodge, in which De Niro gives his best comic performance to date.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

It's a kind of "sex, lies and videotape'' in suburbia.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Calling a comedy old-fashioned nowadays might seem like a backhanded compliment, but that's precisely what this genial, funny movie is.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Distress of Parents is a real pleasure.

Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan

Blithely funny and on-the-money movie.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

What makes it work so well is superb chemistry and a light touch. The spray-painted cat scene doesn't hurt, either.

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

With near-Swiss precision, director/producer Jay Roach and his writers make sure familiarity breeds hilarity.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

These two actors have a kind of genius for dark comedy: Stiller for suffering through crises and De Niro for creating them.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Part sitcom, part comedy of manners - but it lacks the courage to deal honestly with class and ethnicity.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Stiller is enjoyably long-suffering, and De Niro convinces us that Attila the Hun would make a preferable father-in-law.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Directed by Jay Roach, who made the "Austin Powers" movies and here shows he can dial down from farce into a comedy of (bad) manners. His movie is funnier because it never tries too hard.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Scenes that should have been uproarious are weaker than many of the movie's smaller moments.

Film.com Sean Means

Delivers its humor with clockwork reliability.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

This is a high-concept comedy, and none of the jokes are forced, which makes Meet the Parents a singular achievement.

Film.com Robert Horton

While this movie is no great advance in cinema comedy, it is rewardingly silly.

LA Weekly Paul Malcolm

While Stiller and De Niro can play hilariously off one another, the film -- despite its happy ending -- feels unresolved.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

It has just enough "comedy" to qualify as crowd-pleaser.

Newsweek David Ansen

Director Jay Roach ("Austin Powers") has a keen sense of comic timing, and the script keeps finding clever new ways to mortify our poor hero.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

A funny and sometimes substantial movie that in real life would never have a happy ending.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Ultimately passable movie entertainment, but like most future in-laws leaves a feeling of something still desired.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

What begins as unassumingly dull wanders into disarming chaos.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The gross-out factor is surprisingly low, and the combination of Stiller and De Niro is inspired.

Village Voice Jessica Winter

Watching Ben get the girl or be seriously injured trying always has its dry, keening pleasures.

TNT RoughCut Susannah Breslin

Never before have two such skilled actors been so monstrously squandered in a movie so replete with failed gags and pathetic gaffs.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 36 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ben B. gave it a9:
Come, on movie raters - 6.6? That's the average? This movie is undeniably funny, and even kid of sweet in parts. Hilarious entertainment and great family fare - so who are these knuckleheads that keep giving it 0s or 1s? Come on, guys, this movie is a scream!

Shelley N. gave it an8:
It was a good comedy and family movie.

The Parent gave it a0:
This movie was terrible. Anyone who thinks the definition of comedy is to have the one likeable and the only fleshed out character of the film to be bullied for two straight hours by one dimensional dickheads, should not have any creative control over a movie. It was a terrible watch. After seeing one character whom the movie depicts as totally normal and perfect for a girl get undeservedly trashed for a whole film, youd expect some kind of retribution which the film doesnt even attempt to offer. Oh yeah, and the girl for whom he suffers all this humiliation for is depicted as selfish, absent, cold, uncaring and vacuous. A movie which shouldnt have been made. With the cutting edge comedians now working TV, this kind of comedy was done to death 60 years ago. And much better ...

Miriam M gave it a9:
I really loved this movie. So much better than meet the fockers.

JJ gave it a2:
For a movie with such great actors, this was really dumb. Best part was when the cat flushed the dog down the toilet. VERY disappointed, as Meet the Parents was great.

T.O. gave it a1:
It was like watching a bad sitcom. Shallow, not clever, characters that only worked because it showed the famous actors as bizzare personalities. I viewed it more as a documentary on the life and times of current liberal Hollywood stars. A reality show based on true life stories of screwed up personalities / life stories of the rich and famous Hollywood scene.

Sam gave it a9:
A very funny movie. From cat piss on the ashes to robert de niro asking ben stiller if he could milk him cause he had nipples (don't ask) this movie has new ways to entertain. In my opinion, not the best film in the entire world unlike T, and not as unique as other in-law films, but then again it's both an in-law film and it isn't, but in its own unique way it is, so a great film and the parents should watch this one before meeting your daughters 32 (give or take a few) year old boyfriend. You;ll find out ways to make sure he isn't interested in her breasts nothing more, making this a bit of a documentary.

Meet The Parents Universal Pictures

Meet The Parents
Universal Pictures