Meet the farce: De Niro and Stiller go head to head

Could anyone imagine Ben Stiller in a role as an unlucky schmuck? What about Robert De Niro playing a tough guy? It isn't very difficult for these two huge names to hold together a movie based solely on their familiar screen personas. And what better relationship to set off these personalities than that of a young liberal male nurse named Greg Focker (pronounced exactly how it looks) trying to win over the affection of his girlfriend's no-nonsense ex-CIA agent father, Jack Byrnes.

The setup is perfect. The premise is straightforward. Man needs to go to girlfriend's parents' home, meet her parents and get consent from the father before he can wed the girlfriend. Hence we have a title: "Meet the Parents."

Naturally, a mess unfolds. Not only does the young Focker (Stiller) make a liar of himself trying too hard to please old Byrnes (De Niro), but he ends up creating an absurd amount of trouble plainly because of his bad luck — and the movie's need to be comical.

The meeting at the parents' house is at first depicted honestly, creating good comedy out of the awkwardness inherent in Focker's situation. One of the early and more memorable scenes involves Stiller mumbling a prayer at the dinner table highlighted by his thanking God for being "accommodating." Byrnes doesn't approve.

When larger disasters ensue, however, the movie turns into a farce: See how much can go wrong for a man trying to make a good impression. Somewhere in the midst of Focker causing the cesspool in the backyard to overflow, losing Byrnes' precious cat, disguising another cat with spray paint to replace it, setting fire to his future sister-in-law's hand-carved wedding alter, giving her a black eye in a game of volleyball, ruining her surprise honeymoon and knocking over and breaking the urn containing Jack's mother's ashes (on which the cat urinates), I tried to find time to be amused. The long string of mishaps occurring one after the other does not contribute to the originality of the comedy. Nor does it prove to be a worthwhile stimulus for the movie-goer.

When the plot fails, Stiller and De Niro's personalities and the interplay between the two provide the most engaging aspects of the movie. Focker's girlfriend Pam (Teri Polo) unfortunately serves as no more than an object over which the two stars can bicker. In one scene, her attempt at seduction fails as Stiller's character objects to sex in her father's house. When she squeezes out the response — "I'm not in junior high anymore" — I couldn't help but feel nauseous. Mediocre acting does that to me. This boring and lifeless ingénue neither develops a personality nor generates any sympathy from the audience.

At the climax, when Focker is finally kicked out of Byrnes' home, we find out that his first name is actually Gaylord rather than Greg, topping off the seemingly endless number of jokes about the name. Soon after, however, comes the movie's most redeeming scene, set in the airport as Focker prepares to fly home to Chicago. After a day full of stress and humiliation, in a state in which his stability teeters, Focker cracks and verbally lets loose on the stewardess who attempts to take away his ever-so-slightly oversized carry-on item. His tirade is not only hilarious, but also provides the audience with a welcome release from the pain of watching Focker's relentless stress and torment.

Other than the airport scene, people who saw the trailer saw the funniest parts of the movie. In fact, if people want to save time, money and effort, they should just go to the official Website at www.universalpictures.com/meettheparents/ and watch all of the best scenes there.

The resolution of this lackluster flick comes abruptly when Byrnes, in a change of heart, tracks Focker down in the airport, has him arrested and brings him back to marry his daughter. Trite. Director Jay Roach will need Mike Myers again if he wants to create a movie nearly as successful as his previous formidable efforts, "Austin Powers" and its sequel.