"The In-laws"
Steve Tobias (Michael Douglas) is a devil-may-care CIA operative who spends his days fighting the bad guys, brokering arm deals and, lately, preparing for his son Mark's (Ryan Reynolds) wedding to Melissa (Lindsay Sloane), the daughter of Mild-mannered podiatrist Jerry Peyser (Albert Brooks). Never the best of fathers, Steve has vowed, this time, to put his son first but, as usual, duty calls and he enlists the reluctant help of Jerry in "The In-laws."
For some reason Hollywood has the absolute need to take a classic film - "Father of the Bride" or "Get Carter" for example - and remake it. Like sequels, remakes are almost never the equal the original and are usually a disappointment. This new remake of the venerable 1979 "The In-laws," which starred Peter Falk and Alan Arkin in an historic comedy pairing, would have been better served if it had kept one of its working titles, like "The Family," instead of so forthrightly naming it after its inspiration.
It's not that the new "The In-laws" is bad. It is actually an amiable little comedy that has a carefree, likable performance by Douglas and a suitably manic, helplessly outraged character in Dr. Jerry. Unfortunately, unlike the original, there is little going on at the supporting level. Where the '79 film had terrific secondary characters like flight attendant Bing Wong, played by veteran James Hong, and the absolutely outstanding comic performance by Richard Libertini as the velvet art-collecting dictator who talks to his hand - and it talks back! The remake lacks such sparkling performances although David Suchet fits the bill as the fey villainous arms dealer Jean-Pierre Thibodoux. Robin Tunney is not used well as Steve partner-in-training. The potential of a love interest between Tobias and Tunney's Angela is completely mishandled and wasted. There is also too much time spent on Jerry and Steve's kids. Ryan Reynolds and Lindsay Sloane reprise the cardboard characters of the original but are given too much screen time with little or nothing to do. Candice Bergen, as Tobias's estranged wife, is here, as far as I can tell, for those nostalgic for rerunf of "Murphy Brown."
Techs are solid and some of the special F/X, like when Steve parachutes off the top of the John Hancock building in Chicago with Jerry tethered to him, look great. "The In-laws" is a by the numbers remake that will be playing to an entire generation or two that have never even heard of the original film, never mind having seen it and enjoyed the wackiness of Falk yelling to Arkin during an ambush, "Serpentine, Shel, serpentine!" I guess you had to be there. If you were, you'd know exactly what I mean, though Albert Brooks in a thong is nearly worth the price of admission. I give it a C+.
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