Meet the Parents
2000 · Directed by Jay Roach
Ben Stiller spends a weekend at his girlfriend's parents' house. Robert De Niro is the dad. Everything that can go wrong does. The cat is the antagonist.
Why It's Cult
Meet the Parents weaponized De Niro's tough-guy persona for cringe comedy and never recovered the trick — the sequels couldn't match it because the gag of De Niro as a former-CIA father-in-law from hell only works once. Stiller's escalating disaster spiral. The lie-detector test. The septic tank. Owen Wilson as the impossibly perfect ex. It taught a generation what 'meet the parents' meant. Dinner conversation hasn't been the same.
The Plot, Officially
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.
Starring
Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Teri Polo
Where to Watch
via JustWatch →
