Meet the Parents (2000)

84% of critics liked it
(146 reviews)
79% of users liked it
(978,729 ratings)

In this comedy from Austin Powers director Jay Roach, Ben Stiller plays a young man who endures a disastrous weekend at the home of his girlfriend's parents. Greg Focker (Stiller) is completely in love with Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo), and views their upcoming trip to her parents' house on Long Island… More In this comedy from Austin Powers director Jay Roach, Ben Stiller plays a young man who endures a disastrous weekend at the home of his girlfriend's parents. Greg Focker (Stiller) is completely in love with Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo), and views their upcoming trip to her parents' house on Long Island (where her sister is to be married during the weekend) as a perfect opportunity to ask her to marry him. Once Greg is introduced to Pam's parents, however, things stampede steadily downhill. Pam's father, Jack (Robert De Niro), takes an instant and obvious dislike to his daughter's boyfriend, lambasting him for his job as a nurse and generally making Greg painfully aware of the differences between him and Pam's family. Where Greg is grubby, relatively unambitious, and Jewish, Pam comes from a long line of well-mannered, blue-blooded WASPs. Things go from bad to worse in less time than it takes to spin a dreidel, with Greg incurring the wrath of both Pam's father -- who, it turns out, worked for the CIA for 34 years -- and the rest of her family, and almost single-handedly destroying their house and the wedding in the process. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 2 min.
Directed By: Jay Roach
Written By: Jim Herzfeld, John Hamburg
Genres: Comedy

In Theaters: Oct 6, 2000 Wide
On DVD: Mar 6, 2001
Studio: Universal Pictures

Critic Reviews

Lisa Alspector, Chicago Reader
Scenes that should have been uproarious are weaker than many of the movie's smaller moments, whose everyday humor isn't specific to the plot or characters.
Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine
Alas, poor Focker. He can't help himself. And we can't help ourselves from falling about, equally helpless, at this superbly antic movie.
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail
When the script puts its faith in the audience, allowing us to find the laughs on our own, the film is irresistible, a bright lark. Yet when the writers panic, upping the antic volume and shifting into crazed sitcom gear, the lark stops.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
A hilarious hodgepodge of The In-Laws and Annie Hall, in which De Niro gives his best comic performance to date.
Bob Longino, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This fall's pleasant surprise.
Peter Rainer, New York Magazine
I had a good time at Meet the Parents, even though the ratio of clinkers to yucks is disproportionately high.
Nell Minow, Common Sense Media
Star-driven comedy at times offensive and funny.
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
...large swaths of the proceedings feel as though they'd be more at home within a garden-variety sitcom.
Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
What gives the film its special kick is the match of Stiller and De Niro.
David N. Butterworth, rec.arts.movies.reviews
Nobody plays put-upon quite like Ben Stiller.
, Film4
Packed with cringe-worthy moments from beginning to end, Jay Roach's comedy is for anyone who has ever endured a weekend in the company of potential in-laws.
Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com
Owes about 55 percent of its charm to De Niro, who can be hilarious just sitting there.
Joe Lozito, Big Picture Big Sound
Director Jay Roach of the Austin Powers films keeps the pace brisk, and the script by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg ably piles the pratfalls ludicrously high.
Jordan Hiller, Bangitout.com
Stiller portrays a human accident better than anyone and he definitely knows how to extort laughs and sympathy from his audience
Betsy Bozdech, Reel.com
Director Roach ... uses awkward pauses and bizarre situations to create a near-perfect blend of verbal and physical humor.
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion
Contains enough belly-laughs and sly jokes to become one of the bigger crowd-pleasers of the fall.
Derek Adams, Time Out
Astutely observed, subtly played and consistently hilarious...
Susannah Breslin, Film Threat
Never before have two such skilled actors been so monstrously squandered in a movie so replete with failed gags and pathetic gaffes.
Jamey Codding, Bullz-Eye.com
A definite must-see that's perfect for a guys' night out or a relaxing date.
Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews
An entertaining little outing, but not something that will stay with me.

Read all 22 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Albert K

Uses very quiet like performances with hilarious outcomes. A different comedy that stands out amongst the toilet-slapstick-fart-joke movies that are coming out nowadays.
Directors C

I wish some of the slapstick gags were funnier than they were but there's no denying that as a whole, the movie was funny. DeNiro and Ben Stiller were absolutely flawless working with eachother and they had a lot of comedic charm. I do wish that it focused more on the laughs than… More
I wish some of the slapstick gags were funnier than they were but there's no denying that as a whole, the movie was funny. DeNiro and Ben Stiller were absolutely flawless working with eachother and they had a lot of comedic charm. I do wish that it focused more on the laughs than the sitcomish drama. It wasn't perfect but Meet the Parents deals with issues in a hilarious and equally energetic way.
Candy R

Very funny movie about a guy who meets his girlfriend's parents for the first time. Her dad is suspicious of him. Love Robert's character. Owen is great as the ex-boyfriend. Feel sorry for Ben, should have gone home earlier!
Scott G

This being the first installment it was actually funny, had some good gags and was worth watching, but I felt that some adjustments could have been made, casting in particular, and they should have made it so there could have never been any follow on's!
familiar s

A typical rom-com that's slightly ill-balanced between romance and comedy. Robert De Niro's performance seemed terribly odd to me. Thankfully, I don't have to say the same for the rest of the cast.
Brad W

Meet the Parents is one of the best comedies out there. The plot is how every guy feels when meeting his girlfriends parents, espically the father, and it really works because for Greg Focker nothing goes right on his trip. The cast was perfect, Stiller and DeNiro are hilarious.… More
Meet the Parents is one of the best comedies out there. The plot is how every guy feels when meeting his girlfriends parents, espically the father, and it really works because for Greg Focker nothing goes right on his trip. The cast was perfect, Stiller and DeNiro are hilarious. This may have some of the greatest jokes in film history, its a laugh riot. I love this movie.
Alexander D

MEET THE PARENTS, though a slapstick farce, has some kind of a feel-good sense to all of its jokes. Though the two sequels really aren't as funny and are truly more crude and gross (watch if you don't believe me; maybe not otherwise), this first entry has a good bit of… More
MEET THE PARENTS, though a slapstick farce, has some kind of a feel-good sense to all of its jokes. Though the two sequels really aren't as funny and are truly more crude and gross (watch if you don't believe me; maybe not otherwise), this first entry has a good bit of heart in it.
Melvin W

Jack Byrnes: You tried to milk him, didn't you you sick son of a bitch? "First comes love. Then comes interrogation." Yeah, it may have been downhill from Meet The Parents on, but the first movie in the trilogy is one of the funniest movies of the first decade of the… More
Jack Byrnes: You tried to milk him, didn't you you sick son of a bitch? "First comes love. Then comes interrogation." Yeah, it may have been downhill from Meet The Parents on, but the first movie in the trilogy is one of the funniest movies of the first decade of the 21st century. The film is perfectly cast with Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Teri Polo and Owen Wilson in a great supporting role. The movie puts it's lead character, Gaylord Focker into many bad situations and let's him dig himself even deeper. The movie is made up of great scene after great scene. I can't think of a part of the movie where I didn't laugh. From the first dinner with the Parents to the pool volleyball game(funniest scene in the movie) to the final spy cam footage. It's a laugh-a-minute movie that doesn't use the typical raunchy sex and gross out humor. It's actually pretty mild with it's material. The situations are funny enough as they are. So, there's really no need to try to pull off some cheap laughs. The story is about a male nurse who goes on a trip with his girlfriend. They go to her parents house where her sister is about to marries. Greg intends on asking Pam to marry him, but wants to ask her father for his permission first. That is until he finds out that Jack Byrnes is a total psycho and is hard pressed on Pam not being with Greg. The chemistry on screen is very good between the leads and none of the material comes off as forced, although, some of it easily could have. Meet The Parents is an extremely funny movie that I can watch multiple times. I still laugh as hard as I did the first time. It's a really fun movie. Jack Byrnes: Greg, nobody's expecting much out of you so if I set you up with the ball, you think you could jump up and spike it? Greg Focker: Yeah. I'd have to be pretty high, but yeah. Jack Byrnes: I bet you would, Panama Red.
Jeff "

When this film came out, I thought it was one of the funniest films that I had seen. The cast was great, and the film had plenty of funny moments. However the years have taken it's tole on Meet The Parents. The film is still a very funny comedy of course, but there's been… More
When this film came out, I thought it was one of the funniest films that I had seen. The cast was great, and the film had plenty of funny moments. However the years have taken it's tole on Meet The Parents. The film is still a very funny comedy of course, but there's been lots more funnier films that have come out in recent years. Meet The Parents is every son in law's nightmare, and the premise of the story is terrific. Ben Stiller plays Greg "Gaylord" Focker a practicing male nurse who endures a disastrous weekend with his girlfriend's parents of which he intends to marry. Meet The Parents is a funny film that delivers good laughs and it also has a good cast as well. Though since the release of Meet The Parents, there has been better comedies, Meet The Parents is still a comedy worth seeing. This is one of Ben Stiller's best films, and it's fun to see De Niro and Stiller clash on screen. Meet The Parents may one day be seen as a classic of the genre, and it surely has elements that makes it a classic. The film worth seeing and if you're wanting a good laugh, then this film is for you. Meet The Parents is the type of comedy that you don't watch often, so that the jokes are still relevant to you, and seem refreshing everytime you watch it. Because like I stated before, theres been better comedies since it's release, and it be a shame to watch this film to a point where its not funny for you anymore. Meet The Parents is for me, a film to watch once a year just to keep the jokes fresh and have a good time watching it. A worthy comedy to watch. A future classic for sure.
Sophie B

A very good and funny film with good performances but leaves a lot to want.
Dead A

It seemed ridiculous but not boring. I felt sorry for Greg Focker (Ben Stiller). It's alright to watch but not that funny in my opinion.
Cassie H

Watched this one to see what all the hype was about with these three films. I watched this one & to be honest it's not the best comedy. Yes there are some funny parts, but with a comedy I need to be laughing the whole movie, not just at certain parts. Not Ben Stiller's… More
Watched this one to see what all the hype was about with these three films. I watched this one & to be honest it's not the best comedy. Yes there are some funny parts, but with a comedy I need to be laughing the whole movie, not just at certain parts. Not Ben Stiller's & Robert De Niro's best movie. They're both great actors & this very poorly showed off their acting skills. Watch it if you want too, but don't expect a great comedy out of this film.
Martin S

Old school comedy in the modern film era. It's fun. And it's great that De Niro can adapt his roles to his age.
EightThirty .

20/01/2011 (DVD) I enjoyed this more when I was younger but it still managed to extract laughter from me. I haven't yet seen the sequel ('Meet the Fockers') or the third installment to this feature ('Little Fockers') which is screening at the pictures in… More
20/01/2011 (DVD) I enjoyed this more when I was younger but it still managed to extract laughter from me. I haven't yet seen the sequel ('Meet the Fockers') or the third installment to this feature ('Little Fockers') which is screening at the pictures in January-February 2011 so I decided to watch 'em all beginning with 'Meet the Parents' as the intro to this trilogy. I had to readjust myself so that I was in teen mode so that this would be easy to laugh at. I'm a little older now and I must admit that silly and stupid flicks hardly make me laugh these days, well, not like my teen days anyways. Half the time the character played by 'Ben Stiller' is so annoying that I started hoping that his girlfriend would dump him for the other looser. It's a managable sitting if you can stand and endure the stupidity of 'Ben Stiller' who seems to be the same in all the movies I see him in, but I still watch them (guess I'm stupid too). I guess sane people will think this is lame but I'm not that sane so it jiggled me a few times. Not bad.
KJ P

Wonderful! I enjoyed this movie more than I enjoyed a lot of comedies nowadays!
♥Robyn

This movie is so funny i loved it!!! one word HILLARIOUS!!!!
Corey W

Not the best comedy
Richard C

B+
Lenny M

Flixter Deletion no. _, Robert De Niro's last good movie of the new millenium, look at the resume. Showtime, Analyze That, Shark Tale, City by The Sea, Hide and Seek, Godsend, Everybody's Fine, The Good Shepherd, Meet The Fockers, Stardust, Righteous Kill, 15 Minutes, and… More
Flixter Deletion no. _, Robert De Niro's last good movie of the new millenium, look at the resume. Showtime, Analyze That, Shark Tale, City by The Sea, Hide and Seek, Godsend, Everybody's Fine, The Good Shepherd, Meet The Fockers, Stardust, Righteous Kill, 15 Minutes, and The Score. The Score wasn't bad but it wasn't great. De Niro fell hard.
Tim S

Not a fan.