The In-Laws

Movie review by Nell Minow, Common Sense Media
The In-Laws Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 14+

This movie has more misfires than hits.

PG-13 2003 98 minutes
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Parents say

age 16+

Based on 2 reviews

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

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.

Community Reviews

jmo97
jmo97 Adult
May 28, 2016
age 16+

Very suggestive, but entertaining to watch.

This movie about a spy who is trying to not mess up his son's wedding has some very funny moments, and entertaining chemistry between Douglas and Brooks. It's not a film I'd recommend to younger teens or kids, though. There is some very provocative sexual innuendo (mainly where a man overhears dialogue between two characters and thinks they are getting intimate), other sexual references, and a homosexual kiss (one of the male characters is attracted to Brooks' character). For violence, nothing too intense, it's pretty standard action for a PG-13 film (explosions, hand-to-hand combat, and shootings). For language: one f-bomb, and other curse words (s-words included). I have not seen the original, but I do think this movie does its job at entertaining and making its audience laugh, even if it isn't the best. 6.8/10

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much swearing
WhatdoIthink?
WhatdoIthink? Adult
April 9, 2008
not rated for age
See all 2 parent reviews

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.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about some of the stories of bringing their own in-laws together for the first time.

Movie Details

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