Taglines: No pressure.
A Jewish male nurse plans to ask his live-in girl friend to marry him. However, he learns that her strict father expects to be asked for his daughter’s hand before she can accept. Thus begins the visit from Hell as the two travel to meet Mom and Dad, who turns out to be former CIA with a lie detector in the basement. Coincidentally, a sister also has announced her wedding to a young doctor. Of course everything that can go wrong, does, including the disappearance of Dad’s beloved Himalayan cat, Jinxie.
Meet the Parents is a 2000 American comedy film written by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg and directed by Jay Roach. Starring Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller, the film chronicles a series of unfortunate events that befall a good-hearted but hapless man while visiting his girlfriend’s parents. Teri Polo, Blythe Danner, and Owen Wilson also star.
Meet the Parents is a remake of a 1992 film of the same name directed by Greg Glienna and produced by Jim Vincent. Glienna—who also played the original film’s main protagonist—and Mary Ruth Clarke co-wrote the screenplay. Universal Studios purchased the rights to Glienna’s film with the intent of creating a new version.
Jim Herzfeld expanded the original script but development was halted for some time. Jay Roach read the expanded script and expressed his desire to direct the film but Universal declined him. At that time, Steven Spielberg was interested in directing the film while Jim Carrey was interested in playing the lead role. The studio only offered the film to Roach once Spielberg and Carrey left the project.
Released in the United States and Canada on October 6, 2000 and distributed by Universal Studios, the film earned back its initial budget of $55 million in only eleven days. It went on to become one of the highest-grossing films of 2000, earning over $160 million in North America and over $330 million worldwide. Meet the Parents was well received by film critics and viewers alike, winning several awards and earning additional nominations.
Ben Stiller won two comedy awards for his performance and the film was chosen as the Favorite Comedy Motion Picture at the 2001 People’s Choice Awards. The success of Meet the Parents inspired two film sequels, namely Meet the Fockers and Little Fockers released in 2004 and 2010 respectively. Meet the Parents also inspired a reality television show titled Meet My Folks and a situation comedy titled In-Laws, both of them debuting on NBC in 2002.
The original motion picture soundtrack for Meet the Parents was released on September 26, 2000 on the DreamWorks Records record label. The soundtrack features 14 original compositions by Randy Newman as well as additional tracks by Bobby Womack, Lee Dorsey, and Dr. John and a hidden bonus track.
Newman’s original song “A Fool in Love” was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song—Newman’s 14th Oscar nomination—at the 73rd Academy Awards but it ultimately lost to Bob Dylan’s “Things Have Changed” for Wonder Boys. For the same song, Newman also won the 16th Annual ASCAP Film & Television Music Award in the Top Box Office Films category and was nominated at the 5th Golden Satellite Awards in the Original Song category. Dan Goldwasser, in his review of the soundtrack for SoundtrackNet, gave credit to Newman and the soundtrack for doing “an excellent job keeping the humor level high.”
Meet the Parents (2000)
Directed by: Jay Roach
Starring: Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner, Nicole DeHuff, Jon Abrahams, Owen Wilson, Phyllis George, James Rebhorn, Kali Rocha, Judah Friedlander
Screenplay by: Greg Glienna, Mary Ruth Clarke
Production Design by: Rusty Smith
Cinematography by: Peter James
Film Editing by: Greg Hayden, Jon Poll
Costume Design by: Daniel Orlandi
Set Decoration by: Karin Wiesel
Music by: Randy Newman
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual content, drug references and language.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures (North America), DreamWorks Pictures (International)
Release Date: October 6, 2000
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