Meet the Parents
Short description
Meet the Parents follows Greg Focker, a nurse from Chicago who is ready to propose to his girlfriend, Pam Byrnes. Before he can ask for her hand, he must first win the approval of her father, Jack, a retired CIA agent who subjects his daughter's suitors to his own severe scrutiny. A trip to the family home on Long Island for Pam's sister's wedding becomes the occasion for Greg to make his case, but his nervous efforts to impress the Byrnes family go wrong at every turn, and Jack's suspicion of him only deepens. The film's central conflict is Greg's struggle to earn the trust of a man who sees him as unsuitable for his daughter.
The film was released in 2000 and runs 108 minutes. Jay Roach directed it from a screenplay by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg; it is the fourth of the fourteen films he has directed, following Mystery, Alaska and preceding Austin Powers in Goldmember. Ben Stiller plays Greg, with Robert De Niro as Jack, Teri Polo as Pam, Blythe Danner as Dina, Nicole DeHuff as Debbie and Jon Abrahams as Denny. De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Roach produced.
Made for 55 million USD, the film took about 330 million USD worldwide, a strong return on its budget. On IMDb it holds 7/10 from 377,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.7/10 from 6,569 votes, indicating a wide and generally favorable audience response. A critics' rating of 7.1/10 from 147 reviews is close to the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Mr. Jinx was played by a cat named Mishka.
- Jinx is named after the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series of the 50s-60s.
- Jim Carrey was once cast as Greg Focker.
- Before giving the blessing before the meal, Ben Stiller says, "I'm not a rabbi." In a previous film in his career – "Keeping the Faith" (2000) – he plays a rabbi.
- Writer Jerry Stahl co-wrote the "milking the cat" scene.
- Footage from home videos – Teri Polo, filmed by her ex-husband Tony Moore.
- The restaurant scene was filmed in Port Washington, at the Louis restaurant in New York. The race between Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro was also filmed in downtown Port Washington.
- When Greg climbs onto the roof after the cat, the song "Vertigo" (1958) plays.
- According to commentary on the DVD, the chase scene was originally conceived as a parody of the film "Ronin" (1998). When the director saw how quickly the traffic lights changed color, he realized it would be quite a gag and rewrote the scene (traffic lights actually do change from green to red as quickly as shown in the film).
- Christopher Walken could have played Jack Burns.
- According to Teri Polo, in the scene where she and Ben Stiller kiss in her bed, and he caresses her breast, she stuffed cookies into her bra.
- Filmmakers would not have been allowed to use the surname 'Faker' if they hadn't found a specific person with that surname.
- Julia Stiles auditioned for the role of Pam, but dropped out of the film due to '10 Things I Hate About You' (1999).
- When an urn is broken, the cat runs and urinates on Jack's mother's ashes. In the film "The Untouchables" (1987), Al Capone, played by Robert De Niro, says he wanted Eliot Ness to be dead so he could go to his house in the middle of the night and "pee" on his ashes.
- Jack's Thai vocabulary is extremely limited, and he constantly repeated the word "What?" in various ways, creating the illusion of conversation. At the premiere screenings in Thailand, the Thais applauded Robert De Niro for his efforts.
- In the final stage of the film, where Faker is being sent away, Pam's parting is on the right side of her head. A moment later, as she sees Faker off, the parting somehow moves to the left, and freckles appear on the actress's face.
- Filming took place from November 8, 1999, to February 8, 2000.
- Greg's prayer is an excerpt from the song "Day by Day" from the musical "Jesus Christ Superstar" (1973).
- Jack's home security system is a "Magnum Alert MA1000e."
- In Pam's brother's room, you can see posters of bands such as "Sepultura," "Korn," and "Beastie Boys."
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
