 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
The In-Laws
- Review Date: October 5, 2003
- PG-13
- Genre: Comedy
- 2003
Common Sense Media says
This movie has more misfires than hits.
Parents say
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this movie has some very strong material for a PG-13. This includes crude jokes about the criminal's homosexual attraction to Jerry and Steve's ex-wife (Candace Bergen) explaining that she and Steve used to have great "angry sex." A bridesmaid gets drunk and confesses that she and the groom had sex before he met the bride. There's comic peril and violence, and characters are killed.
What's the story?
In this remake, Albert Brooks plays Jerry, a worrywart of a podiatrist who is obsessively planning every detail of his daughter's wedding. Enter Steve, his daughter's prospective free spirit father-in-law who is some sort of secret agent. Steve's case involving an arms dealer and a stolen submarine is concluding just as the wedding approaches, and Jerry gets mixed up in a series of wild adventures that include Barbra Streisand's jet, parachuting off a skyscraper, and a dip in a hot tub with a high strung international criminal who is having something of a sexual preference meltdown.
Is it any good?
It's hard to blow a premise like this one -- color-in-the-lines, risk-adverse man meets his daughter's overly adventurous father-in-law just before the wedding. It worked pretty well in the 1973 original starring Alan Arkin and Peter Falk. But this retread has more misfires than hits.
It's always fun to watch Brooks unravel, Douglas gives an appealingly loose performance, and there are a couple of genuinely funny moments. But the film lacks the energy and zaniness of the original.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about some of the stories of bringing their own in-laws together for the first time.
- Show:
- All members
- Parents
- Teens & kids
| Studio: | Warner Bros. |
| Director: | Andrew Fleming |
| Cast: | Albert Brooks, Michael Douglas, Ryan Reynolds |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Run time: | 98 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | May 23, 2003 |
| DVD release date: | October 7, 2003 |
| MPAA rating: | PG-13 |
| MPAA explanation: | suggestive humor, language, some drug references and action violence. |
Review It
Great alternatives handpicked by our editors
Already seen it? What do you think?
More from Common Sense Media
Top advice and articles
