 | 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. |
Meet the Parents
- Review Date: February 18, 2004
- PG-13
- Genre: Comedy
- 2000
Common Sense Media says
Star-driven comedy at times offensive and funny.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this movie has some strong language, especially in reference to Greg's unfortunate last name; drug use, plus cigarette smoking by the main character; a few sexual references and situations; and potty humor -- a septic tank backs up on the lawn, for starters. There's plenty of lying, spying, and sneaking around by the main characters that they eventually all need to own up to -- like when Greg loses the cat and tries to replace him with a lookalike from the local shelter.
What's the story?
In MEET THE PARENTS, Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) loves Pam (Teri Polo) and wants to make a good impression on her father, Jack (Robert De Niro), who specializes in sweating the truth out of double agents in the CIA. Everything goes wrong. Jack's natural over-protectiveness meets with Greg's panicky clumsiness. The airline loses Greg's suitcase, so he has to borrow bizarre clothes -- enormous pants from Pam's brother, a tiny Speedo bathing suit from Pam's former fiancé. Greg is compared to Pam's sister's fiancé, a doctor, and to Pam's former boyfriend (Owen Wilson), now fabulously wealthy and still pining for her. Greg, who is Jewish, is asked to say grace at dinner, and can only helplessly babble the lyrics from Godspell. And, in the movie's high point, Greg has to cope with the only situation more grueling than a terrifying in-law: airline bureaucracy.
Is it any good?
Written by the screenwriter of the awful Meet the Deedles (who will we meet next? the Fockers, of course) and directed by the director of Austin Powers, Meet the Parents is a sub-category of comedy that can only be termed "comedies of excruciation," in which we laugh at the hideously humiliating experiences of some poor sap. If this is your kind of humor, then this is your kind of movie.
There are many jokes about Greg's name (Focker, get it?) and his occupation (nurse, which isn't manly, get it?). Jokes center on a catheter, a "Mountie strap-on dildo," a cat who uses the toilet, a cat strung out on nicotine gum, a fire, and an overflowing septic tank. The scene in which Greg battles the airline rules is worth at least three stars on its own. Depending on your sense of humor, it is either hilarious or agonizing or both.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about the kind of laughs this comedy goes for. Is the humiliation of these characters funny? How does their dishonesty keep them from getting along? Why does Greg's stressed-out nature make him more susceptible to laughs at his expense? Does it bother you that Pam doesn't stand up to her father more? Is she contributing in some way to Greg's misery?
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AGE
Meet The Parents
Meet the Parents is an overall okay movie The Only bad thing in it is 1 f-word and some sex paraphanalia
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Kid, 12 years old
May 12, 2010
AGE
also Focker is the name that we don't use in our home
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AGE
also Focker is the name that we don't use in our home
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Kid, 11 years old
May 12, 2010
AGE
also Focker is the name that we don't use in our home
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AGE
Ben Stiller
Meet the Parents is very funny. The chemistry between Robert DiNero and Ben Stiller makes a hilarious movie.
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AGE
Meet the Parents a fine choice
My parents saw it and now mey and my sister saw it and it was the best movi that is so funny
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AGE
FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I saw this at Topsail in our beach condo and LOVED it!!! Only bad thing in it is the language and references to marijuana. Brief sexual references...not too bad, though. I didn't get to see the very end, though, when Robert DeNiro is watching Ben Stiller on tape.
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AGE
Funny...
This movie was funny although not hilarious. I watched it with a female friend of mine which made it funner! SHe is very giggly. I suggest watching it with someone who likes to laugh. It is a good girls night out movie :) Overall I enjoyed it although it is not my Very favorite movie.
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| Studio: | Universal Pictures |
| Director: | Jay Roach |
| Cast: | Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Teri Polo |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Theatrical release date: | October 6, 2000 |
| DVD release date: | December 14, 2004 |
| MPAA rating: | PG-13 |
| MPAA explanation: | drug references, sexual references and situations, and language |
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