Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) is a happy male nurse who has a great girlfriend Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo). He wants to propose to her, but have to get her father Jack's (Robert De Niro) permission. Only Jack isn't the trusting kind.

This starts off pretty much as expected with awkward uncomfortable interactions. The movie goes from awkward laughs to uncomfortable silences. The lie detector scene is especially funny. What makes it problematic for me is that Focker is a bit of a weasel. He's constantly trying to lie his way out of things. It's not a likable trait.

I'm not talking about the cat lie. That's a defensible move. But he's too weasely even when it makes no sense. When Kevin (Owen Wilson) is getting his goat, Greg tries to puff himself up even though Jack is right there who could easily out him. It's in his nature and that's a problem.

The movie has a lot of fun, and the ending is heart warming. But I have to downgrade it a little for Greg's personality. Ben Stiller plays him a little too pathetic when it would be better to have a little confidence. It's better to have him as a reasonable nice man who's dealing with a crazy Jack. He needs to be more a straight man.

Robert DeNiro in one of his occasional forays into comedy is both funny and terrifying as the dad from hell who scares away all of his daughter Teri Polo's boyfriends and potential husbands in Meet The Parents. Those meetings are an ordeal especially when this man who was from the CIA and specializes in subtle and not so subtle interrogation techniques and has his house bugged in every which way.

The latest boyfriend is Ben Stiller who has been living with Polo and now they want to make it official. The fact they're together without benefit of clergy is enough to disqualify him from the start so Polo says let's not mention it. The second is that Stiller is a male nurse and that's not quite manly enough for dad to see as a profession for a son-in-law.

Observing it all and keeping mum is Mom, Blythe Danner. One wonders how she hooked up with DeNiro all those years.

Stiller and DeNiro really have the comic timing down beautifully. For Stiller this is old hat for DeNiro this is a chance to show his versatility. Best scene is the whole sequence at the airport as Stiller has decided he's had enough. He learns as well all know is that there's no such thing as ex-CIA.

Two sequels have been made from Meet The Parents and who knows there may be more. I hope so.

We all know that meeting one's future in-laws can be an unpleasant experience, but none can be more unpleasant than what Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) and Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo) go through. Planning to get married, they go to meet Pam's parents Jack (Robert DeNiro) and Dina (Blythe Danner). Maybe it's the R-rated connotation inherent in Greg's surname, or maybe it's Jack's status as a CIA agent, but Greg and Jack do not hit it off. Somehow, Greg causes a series of accidents, and it all leads Jack to consider Greg unworthy for his daughter.

The whole movie is pretty silly, but at the same time, all so true. One can understand that Jack wants to protect his daughter, but a lie detector test? And just what about Mr. Jinx? What is with that cat? No matter, the movie never gets so ridiculous to the point where you roll your eyes. It's nice brainless fun, but it's nice brainless fun that accurately reflects the world that we inhabit. Oh, and Greg is Jewish while Pam's family is a bunch of WASPs, so you know what that means.