Wolff rating: NOT BAD
Plot summary: Sad sack but well-meaning loser goes to meet his authoritarian father for the first time to get his permission to marry his daughter.
Biased, pithy comments: This is, intentionally, one of those nightmare scenarios that every young man who wishes to marry fears he must face. (Me, I got off lucky, but that's another story.) This movie highlights those fears in neon by having every possible thing that could go wrong with this poor guy's visit go wrong. The dialog is intenionally stilted and awkward, and Stiller does a good job of conveying a guy who desperately wants to climb all the way out of his own skin into a dark hole in the ground. De Niro, too, is wonderful, backed up by Danner. Owens nearly steals the show as the girlfriend's ex. There are moments of extreme hilarity now and then, with long periods of gut-wrenching horror in between. (Also, there's a fair amount of set-up in each scene---you can see them laying the bricks in every scene at the beginning). However, theater of the cruel (where we go to see a man we identify with get ripped to shreds) depends on a careful balance of making the character likeable, pleasant, and just the tiniest bit deserving of his fate (though his failings be only human). Stiller isn't quite likeable enough for my taste; he gets a little mean early on, and then by the time his lies and cover-ups catch up with him, I thought it had left the realm of farce and entered into painful just desserts. Other people's mileage has varied; I think it depends partially on how scared you were of your potential father-in-law.
Other Notes: Kali Rocha is awesome as the flight attendant.
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Owen Wilson.
Directed by: Jay Roach