|
''Meet the Parents'' is a 2000 American comedy film written by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg and directed by Jay Roach. Starring Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller, the film chronicles a series of unfortunate events that befall a good-hearted but hapless man while visiting his girlfriend's parents. Teri Polo, Blythe Danner, and Owen Wilson also star. ''Meet the Parents'' is a remake of a 1992 film of the same name directed by Greg Glienna and produced by Jim Vincent. Glienna—who also played the original film's main protagonist—and Mary Ruth Clarke co-wrote the screenplay. Universal Studios purchased the rights to Glienna's film with the intent of creating a new version. Jim Herzfeld expanded the original script but development was halted for some time. Jay Roach read the expanded script and expressed his desire to direct the film but Universal declined him. At that time, Steven Spielberg was interested in directing the film while Jim Carrey was interested in playing the lead role.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.contactmusic.com/jim-carrey/news/carrey-has-no-regrets-over-meet-the-parents_1089627 )〕 The studio only offered the film to Roach once Spielberg and Carrey left the project. Released in the United States and Canada on October 6, 2000 and distributed by Universal Studios, the film earned back its initial budget of $55 million in only eleven days. It went on to become one of the highest grossing films of 2000, earning over $160 million in North America and over $330 million worldwide. ''Meet the Parents'' was well received by film critics and viewers alike, winning several awards and earning additional nominations. Ben Stiller won two comedy awards for his performance and the film was chosen as the Favorite Comedy Motion Picture at the 2001 People's Choice Awards. The success of ''Meet the Parents'' inspired two film sequels, namely ''Meet the Fockers'' and ''Little Fockers'' released in 2004 and 2010 respectively. ''Meet the Parents'' also inspired a reality television show titled ''Meet My Folks'' and a situation comedy titled ''In-Laws'', both of them debuting on NBC in 2002. ==Plot== Gaylord "Greg" Focker (Ben Stiller) is a nurse living in Chicago, who intends to propose to his girlfriend Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo), a schoolteacher. His plan is disrupted when Pam's sister Debbie becomes engaged and he finds out that Debbie's fiance, Dr. Robert "Bob" Banks had asked Pam's father for permission before proposing. Greg and Pam travel to Pam's parents' house in Oyster Bay, Long Island to attend the wedding. Greg hopes to propose to Pam in front of her family after receiving her father's permission, but this plan is put on hold when the airline loses his luggage, including the engagement ring. When they arrive at the Byrnes' home, Greg meets Pam's father Jack (Robert De Niro), her mother Dina (Blythe Danner) and their beloved cat Mr. Jinx. Jack immediately takes a dislike to Greg and openly criticizes him for his chosen career of nursing and anything else he sees as a sign of weakness. Greg's attempts to impress Jack either go unnoticed or fail: He inadvertently leads Jack to think he is a drug user while mentioning the possible subtle drug references in Puff, the Magic Dragon, recites the lyrics from the song "Day by Day" from the musical "Godspell" as a blessing, and makes up a story about milking a cat. Greg then presents the Byrnes family with a bottle of champagne which he had purchased at a local convenience store. However, the cork pops off and knocks over an urn containing the ashes of Jack's beloved mother and Pam's grandmother. Greg becomes further uncomfortable after receiving an impromptu lie detector test from Jack and later discovers that Jack is actually a retired CIA counterintelligence officer. Meeting the rest of Pam's family and friends, including Debbie, her fiance, his parents, and Pam's highly successful ex-fiancee Kevin (Owen Wilson), Greg still feels like an outsider. He becomes desperate to prove himself to Jack and, during a game of water volleyball, accidentally hits Debbie while spiking the ball, giving her a bloody nose and black eye. To make matters worse, because Greg had earlier used a malfunctioning toilet, the Byrnes's yard floods with sewage. Greg also learns that the luggage the airline had returned to him is not actually his, and while attempting to solve this issue, accidentally causes Jinx to get loose. While chasing Jinx, Greg accidentally starts a fire in the yard, destroying a wedding altar that Kevin had handcarved for Debbie's wedding. Jack himself conducts a background check on Greg's MCAT scores and thinks Greg never actually took the MCAT's, and inspects Greg's found luggage (which is actually someone else's) containing sexual toys and gimmicks. Later, the Byrnes family realizes Jinx is missing and Greg, in a last-ditch effort to win Jack over, finds a stray cat who looks exactly like Jinx and spray paints its tail to match Jinx's tail. The stray cat trashes the house which the family returns home to discover. Jack realizes what Greg has done and calls him out in front of the entire family for his lack of honesty. By this, the entire Byrnes family, especially Pam, agree that it is best for Greg to leave. Desperate to save himself, Greg reveals that he has seen Jack talking to strange characters, and is planning a secret mission after Pam's sister's wedding, thus lying about being retired from the CIA. Jack angrily explains that the secret mission was a surprise honeymoon for the newlywed couple, and Greg realizes that he only dug himself deeper. Greg reluctantly goes to the airport and is briefly detained by airport security after refusing to check in his luggage, remembering what happened last time. Back at the Byrnes' household, Jack tries to convince his wife and Pam that Greg would be an unsuitable husband, as he is completely dishonest and incompetent. Upon receiving retribution from his wife and Pam, as well as confirmation that Greg actually aced the MCAT's), Jack realizes that Pam truly loves Greg. Jack rushes to the airport, convinces airport security to release Greg, and demands that he be honest about everything that transpired. Greg admits that he loves Pam, and everything he did before was out of desperation to win Jack's approval. Jack admits that maybe he had been too hard on Greg, and he brings him back to the Byrnes' household. Greg proposes to Pam. She accepts, and her parents agree that they should now meet Greg's parents. After Debbie's wedding, Jack views footage of Greg recorded by hidden cameras that he had placed strategically around their house. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Meet the Parents」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|