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Meet the Parents(2000)
Universal Pictures Oct 6, 2000 | Wide
Chicago male nurse and chronic under-achiever Greg Focker meets his charming teacher girlfriend Pam Byrnes' parents Jack and Dina before proposing, but suspicious Jack is an overprotective former CIA agent - every date's worst nightmare.
Director & Top Cast
Technical Specifications
Sound Mix: DTS,Dolby Digital,SDDS
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Other Details
Country of Origin: United States
Language: English,Thai,Spanish,Hebrew,French
Showtimes
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(U.S. Only)
Summaries
Plot Summary
- Gaylord "Greg" Focker (Ben Stiller) is a male nurse living in Chicago. He intends to propose to his girlfriend, Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo), but his plan is disrupted when they are invited to the wedding of Pam's sister, Debbie (Nicole DeHuff), at their parents' house on Long Island. Greg decides to impress Pam's parents first, and propose to her in front of her family, but this plan is put on hold when the airline company loses his luggage which contains the engagement ring.At the Byrnes's house, Greg meets Pam's father, Jack (Robert De Niro) (a retired CIA agent and a Vietnam War veteran who is overprotective of his family and takes an instant dislike towards Greg), mother, Dina (Blythe Danner), and their beloved cat, Jinx. Jack is immediately suspicious of Greg and openly criticizes him for his choice of career as a male nurse and anything else he sees as a difference between Greg and the Byrnes family (Greg is a dog lover). Greg attempts to impress Jack, but his efforts fail. Jack runs a business to sell hidden, motion activated camera equipment for surveillance needs in the house. Jack thinks Greg is a pothead when Greg says that Jack's favorite song is actually about a guy smoking pot ("puff the magic dragon"). Greg thinks a vase containing Jack's mothers ashes is also one of his hidden cameras, which he later breaks when he pops open the champagne. Greg tells Jack that he grew up on a farm, but that story unravels when Pam reveals at dinner that Greg grew up in Detroit.Greg also finds that Pam was earlier engaged to a guy named Kevin. Jack asks Greg to sleep in the basement and tells him under his roof, he can't have sex with Pam. In the basement Greg finds a secret door with spy equipment and photos that suggest that Jack wasn't a Flowerist for 30 years. He becomes even more uncomfortable after he receives an impromptu lie detector test from Jack and later learns from Pam that Jack is a retired CIA operative.Meeting the rest of Pam's family and friends, Greg still feels like an outsider (Debbie's fiance and his parents are all famous doctors). Despite efforts to impress her family, his inadvertent actions make him an easy target for ridicule. Greg is taken aback when he learns that Kevin is Bob's best man and is hosting the entire family for a BBQ lunch. Kevin is super successful financially and Greg feels "small" in front of him. Kevin invites everyone for a dip in his pool and loans Greg his Speedo, which is a tad inappropriate for a family setting.Greg unintentionally gives Debbie a broken nose and a black eye during a pool volleyball game (after he missed a shot, Jack comes down really hard on him and presses Greg to play more competitively), uses a malfunctioning toilet which floods the Byrnes's backyard with sewage, and sets the wedding altar on fire (which was built by Kevin). Several misunderstandings also cause Jack to believe Greg is a marijuana user after Pam's weed-using brother, Denny (Jon Abrahams), frames him (Denny loans Greg his clothes and later Jack finds a pot smoking device in it and thinks it belongs to Greg) (Jack later goes through Greg's suitcase which was returned by the airline (but it wasn't actually Greg's) and finds that it has women's clothes in it).Later, Greg loses Jinx and replaces him with a stray whose tail he spray paints to make him look like Jinx which happens to also make a mess (tears up Debbie's wedding dress and breaks up all the wedding China) of the house (though the real Jinx is later found).By now, the entire Byrnes family, including Pam, agrees that it is best for Greg to leave Long Island until the wedding concludes. Desperate to save himself, Greg reveals he has seen Jack engaging in some secret activity with some shady characters, and that Jack is planning a secret mission after the wedding. Jack angrily reveals that the secret mission was a surprise honeymoon for Debbie and her fiance Bob (Thomas McCarthy), and Greg realizes he has only dug himself deeper into a hole.Unwillingly, Greg goes to the airport where he is detained by airport security for insisting that his luggage stays with him rather than be checked. Back at the Byrnes's house, Jack attempts to convince Pam that Greg was lying to her about everything. He claims to be unable to find records of anyone named "Greg Focker" ever taking the Medical College Admission Test which Greg claimed he had passed with the initial intention of becoming a doctor.Upon learning that Greg's real name is Gaylord (when his suitcase finally arrives), and being presented with proof from Pam that he did in fact pass the test, being told off by Dina over his consistent picking apart of any man Pam brings home (and that he didn't even like Pam's previous fiance, Kevin (Owen Wilson), until after they broke up), and hearing Pam make a heartfelt call to Greg, Jack realizes that Pam truly loves Greg. He rushes to the airport, convinces airport security to release Greg, and brings him back to the Byrnes's house.As Greg is proposing to Pam, Jack and Dina listen in on their conversation from another room, agreeing that they should now meet Greg's parents (though both are visibly worried about this). After Debbie's wedding, Jack views footage of Greg recorded by hidden cameras that he had placed strategically around the house in which Greg calls Jack a "psycho" and mocks him and exposes Denny as the true marijuana user.
Storyline
- Madly in love with charming schoolteacher Pam, Greg Focker, an unambitious Chicago nurse and chronic underachiever, wants to make a good impression on her father, Jack, more than anything. And, in the following 48 hours, against the backdrop of a hectic weekend at her parents' house, Greg will have to put his skills to good use and, hopefully, charm his way out of trouble. However, there is one tiny detail: Jack has a knack for uncovering the truth, and Greg has been quite economical with it. Under those circumstances, will he ever get Jack's approval? Above all, is love blind? — Nick Riganas A young male finally meets his partner's parents but they are not a fan of him. Along the way, he does his best to impress them and get along with them. He finds out that his partner's father is a former spy from the country's defence and tries to help him with a case. — RECB3 Greg Focker is a male nurse & in love with his live-in girlfriend Pam who teachers grade school. Greg yearns to propose marrying her but ends up having to meet her family first as Pam's sister is getting married in a couple days. Greg soon discovers his potential near future father-in-law & family circle make this near impossible as he ends up making uncharacteristic mistakes with her family due to a multitude of unfortunate circumstances incl. bad luck, insecurity & poort decisions. Greg soon learns that Pam's father is likely impossible to please & the worst father-in-law & that earning his trust is everything. 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. — John Sacksteder