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In-laws, one very good reason to never get married. Personally, I have never had the problem of in-laws, but many of my married friends tell me how they have tenuous relationships with these non-blood relatives. And then on TV all you see is how mother-in-laws drive the wife crazy, while the wife yells and hits the husband. But I digress, that isn’t what this in-laws is about. This in-laws is about a crazy father-in-law to be that drives the father of the bride crazy. The story begins with Dr. Jerry Peyser (Albert Brooks, Out of Sight) a Chicago podiatrist whose is preparing to give away his only daughter Melissa (Lindsay Sloane, Bring It On). However, this uptight, anal-retentive foot doctor is having issues with the father of the groom, Steve Tobias (Michael Douglas, It Runs in the Family), who never shows up for the standard meetings between parents. Steve’s son Mark (Ryan Reynolds, Van Wilder) always apologizes and blames it on his dad’s work as a Xerox salesman. But the truth is that Steve is really a deep cover CIA agent that busts arms dealers, who is currently working on his biggest case trying to bust the elusive Cherkasov (Vladimir Radian, The Sum of All Fears). Soon Jerry becomes entangled in Steve’s work, but doesn’t believe what Steve is telling him, so he comes off as a nut job to his wife (Maria Ricossa) and daughter. Of course for further laughs, Steve’s business dealings continually interfere and interrupt the wedding plans, much to the delight and chagrin of Steve’s ex-wife Judy (Candice Bergen, View from the Top). On top of this is a bit of sexual tension between Steve and his assistant agent Angela Harris (played by the beautiful Robin Tunney from Vertical Limit), who just wants to be loved by someone. So with chaos reigning over the wedding, will the big event get pulled off, will Steve get his man, and will anyone believe Jerry? It’s Hollywood, so you probably already know the answer, that and this is a remake of a 1979 film starring Peter Faulk and Alan Arkin, so you may have already seen the ending. Regardless, this is actually a funny film. As I said, The In-Laws is actually a funny, which was a pleasant surprise for me. Another surprise for me was the median age of the audience I sat with that must have approached 55 years of age. Anyway, director Andrew Fleming does a great job with Brooks and Douglas (who I don’t normally think of as a comedic actor). Some others in the film are Chang Tseng, Richard Waugh, A. Russell Andrews, Tamara Gorski, Michael Bodnar, Boyd Banks, Susan Aceron, and Matt Birman. The big reason that I was so pleasantly surprised was because I still recall what a disaster Town & Country was a few years ago, which included many aging stars in a comedy that was not even in the neighborhood of being slightly funny. Then throw in Douglas’ disaster with One Night at McCool's and you can see why I had reservations going into the theater. Of course as soon as the movie started these fears were allayed and I was able to enjoy myself as I laughed and smirked at Douglas’ hi jinks and Brooks’ reactions. But it isn’t all-good since the filmmakers went and made many things rather unbelievable (not that the 007 folks don’t do the same thing) with stealth submarines that can magically go through locks on the river undetected to even sight. But even these aspects failed to ruin an otherwise hilarious film, which I give eight couches to for the About-Movies.com rating. Bon voyage.
Last updated: Thursday, March 20, 2008 02:46:07 AM Click Here to get back into frames.
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