Meet the Parents

"First comes love. Then comes the interrogation."

2000 1h 48m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

🍅

85%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

IMDB

★6.7TMDB · 6,594🍅85%Rotten Tomatoes●73Metacritic★7IMDB · 375,598

ComedyRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Greg Focker is ready to marry his girlfriend, Pam, but before he pops the question, he must win over her formidable father, humorless former CIA agent Jack Byrnes, at the wedding of Pam's sister. As Greg bends over backward to make a good impression, his visit to the Byrnes home turns into a hilarious series of disasters, and everything that can go wrong does, all under Jack's critical, hawklike gaze.

“First comes love. Then comes the interrogation.”

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Cast

Ben Stiller
Greg Focker
Robert De Niro
Jack Byrnes
Teri Polo
Pam Byrnes
Blythe Danner
Dina Byrnes
Nicole DeHuff
Debbie Byrnes
Jon Abrahams
Denny Byrnes
Owen Wilson
Kevin Rawley
James Rebhorn
Dr. Larry Banks

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jay Roach
Writers: John Hamburg, Jim Herzfeld, John Davis
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $55M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 6.0× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

26 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Meet the Parents Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jay Roach, shot by Peter James. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Randy Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Greg Hayden shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro and Teri Polo carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jay Roach directs. Peter James behind the camera. Randy Newman scores. Greg Hayden cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $55M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Made its money back 6.0× over at the box office.
326 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Part of the "Meet the Parents Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Jay Roach, shot by Peter James. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Randy Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Greg Hayden shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro and Teri Polo carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "First comes love. Then comes the interrogation.".
10IMDB entry: tt0212338 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 15 themes, including "daughter", "central intelligence agency (cia)", "airplane", "airport".

The technical file

Cinematography: Peter James
Original score: Randy Newman
Editing: Greg Hayden
Production design: Rusty Smith
Makeup / hair: Victor DeNicola
VFX supervisor: David D. Johnson
Stunt coordinator: G.A. Aguilar
Runtime: 108 min · 1h 48m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $55,000,000
Box office: $330,444,045
Return: 601% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Meet the Parents (2000)
Rotten Tomatoes: 85% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 73/100
IMDB rating: 7/10 · 375,598 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 7 wins & 15 nominations total

Part of

Meet the Parents Collection

The Meet the Parents films are a series of films involving a man and his in-laws.

Also by

Jay Roach

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2023-05-29
★ 7/10
A serious beau becomes a master of disaster when he meets his girlfriend's parents A male nurse from Chicago (Ben Stiller) wants to pop the question to his girlfriend (Teri Polo), but first has to visit Long Island and meet the parents (Robert De Niro & Blythe Danner). “Meet the Parents” (2001) is a good romantic comedy with Stiller effective as the every-man in a challenging mundane situation that most guys can relate to. The first half involves droll humor as Greg awkwardly meets his potential parents-in-law and suspects that the father doesn’t like him. Yet this is just a set-up for the wild mishaps of the second half as Murphy’s Law goes into effect. Teri looks great while Nicole DeHuff is on hand as the sister. Elsewhere, an iconic actor of the period shows up in the second half, but I don’t want to give it away as it’s a welcome surprise (it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out seeing as how this is a Ben Stiller comedy). The sequel “Meet the Fockers” came out four years later and it’s lousy by comparison with distasteful non-humor consisting mostly of juvenile jokes about sex from senior citizens. It was an embarrassment to the iconic actors. The movie runs 1 hour, 48 minutes, and was shot mostly on Long Island at Old Brookville and nearby Oyster Bay. GRADE: B+
CinemaSerf2024-04-17
★ 6/10
The time has come for "Greg" (Ben Stiller) to meet the parents of his girlfriend "Pam" (Teri Polo). He wants to marry her, indeed he even buys a ring - but when the airline makes him check in his bag, then lose the thing and a baby throws up over his shirt he might be forgiven for thinking he'd be better of staying at home. Nope, he perseveres and meets her folks - "Jack" (Robert De Niro) and "Dina" (Blythe Danner) and now his troubles really do begin. Rather than just the usual charming family repartee, "Greg" finds himself under a microscope of penetrative inquisition from his would-be in-law, and it gradually emerges that he has maybe held back on a few truths with "Pam" and he does (or doesn't) like cats. He's also a male nurse called "Focker" - further facts which don't really helps his cause, either. As the weekend progresses, "Greg" lurches from the frying pan to the fire, trashes a sentimental urn, get's stitched up by her brother "Denny" (Jon Abrahams) and I think if it'd been me, I'd have abandoned ship however much I might have loved the woman. Danner always manages to impose herself gently in comedy, her facial expressions and demeanour adding an approving or disapproving look that speaks volumes, and here she works well with De Niro whose controlling behaviour is really the source of much of the humour here. It's not laugh out loud funny, and there's far too much dialogue, but when De Niro is at his most controllingly mischievous, then this is worth a watch. Who doesn't like a bit of Peter, Paul & Mary too?