2000, 1 hr 48 min., Rated PG-13 for sexual content, drug references and language.�Dir: Jay Roach. Cast: Ben Stiller (Greg Focker), Robert De Niro (Jack Byrnes), Teri Polo (Pam Byrnes), Blythe Danner (Dina Byrnes), Nicole DeHuff (Debbie Byrnes), Jon Abrahams (Denny Byrnes), James Rebhorn (Larry Banks), Phyllis George (Linda Banks), Owen Wilson (Kevin).

Having woken up to turn on my network and see the news of a terrorist attack on a U.S. ship and the Israelis and Palestinians nearly at war again, I decided I needed a good comedy. Thus I decided that Meet the Parents fit the bill perfectly, a simple and sweet comedy about the possible horrors of meeting the future in-laws.

This review could be cuter and more relatable if I had a disarming Meet the Parents experience of my own. But, since I haven�t done so since the Reagan administration, and being that my 25th birthday is next week, frankly this is a depressing thing to think about, that I have yet to have a serious relationship. So lets move on to the actual review of the movie, from someone who hasn�t had such an experience.

The music is by Randy Newman, who introduces the film with a song that says �When you�re a fool in love, you�ll be a fool till the day you die.� Well, that may be a misnomer, since if you�re a fool in love, you could also just be played for a fool. Or, as in Ben Stiller�s case, you could do some really stupidly foolish things that don�t help at all.

I enjoyed Parents and laughed frequently, although many times I was lowering my head, unable to look at the embarrassment on the screen. Stiller had more resolve than I do, because I would've been on a plane back to Chicago right after first dinner. Although Teri Polo (as Pam, Stiller's girlfriend), is definitely worth fighting for.

Robert De Niro was great (as usual), and has this great uneasy chemistry in scenes with Stiller, which weren�t enough. De Niro is intimidating enough in normal conversation, but if he turns against you then life gets very bad very quickly.

Stiller is always a fun actor to watch, and comes across to me as a younger Woody Allen with a much more likable nervous tick. Pam's parents are the type that aren�t wooed by his sarcastic wit, so he�s disarmed from the start, constantly fumbling in trying to gain their approval. Not to mention that pressure, Stiller can�t smoke in the house, so he chews Nicorette gum incessantly and efforts to gain any type of approving nod from the mysterious De Niro.

There is a lot of fun playing on Stiller�s characters last name, Focker, so you can tell that many, many times DeNiro begins a sentence with �Listen, Focker�� which will surely be a headache for network censors in a few years. This is something one might expect from director Jay Roach (Austin Powers), who employs a similar comedic style in a different setting, even down to popularizing a putty-tat, as Jinx the cat could be more loved than Mr.Bigglesworth.