Meet the Parents (2000)

Meet the Parents is a 108 minute panic spiral in khakis. Greg digs himself one hole after another, mostly with small lies, and the cringe gets so relentless that some scenes are more stressful than funny. But Robert De Niro is a genius choice. He plays Jack as a dad with a lie detector in the basement and a cat named Mr. Jinx who gets better treatment than any human. Teri Polo’s Pam is the biggest miss: she’s the whole reason for the weekend, and she gets fewer good scenes than the cat. The pool volleyball game, the champagne cork and the run-up to the sister’s wedding are all tiny disasters that stack into one huge one. Owen Wilson, as the perfect ex who carves wedding decorations out of wood, is so nice it’s a threat. It made $330.4 million worldwide on a reported $55 million. A 6.6 because the setup is brilliant and the agony sometimes outruns the laughs. $4,091 says you shake hands with somebody’s dad this year and hold on way too long.

What works: Robert De Niro plays the suspicious dad completely straight, and Ben Stiller’s slow collapse is a master class in suffering.

What doesn’t: The cringe gets so relentless it stops being funny in spots, and Pam is barely a character at all.

Who it’s for: Anyone who has ever survived a first weekend with a partner’s family, or is about to.