REEL CRITICS

‘Meet the Parents’ remake is hilarious romp

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This is a spontaneously funny picture. “Meet the Parents” is a remake

of a 1993 movie with the same names and improves upon it nicely.

The casting is inspired: Robert De Niro as Jack Byrnes, the

controlling patriarch whose firstborn is once again threatening to leave

the nest; Ben Stiller as Greg Focker, who threatens to entice the

firstborn from the nest; Teri Polo as the firstborn, who threatens to

leave the nest a lot; and Blythe Danner as Dina Byrnes, wife and mother

of Jack and Pam, respectively, who is wholly accepting of everything that

meets with Jack’s approval.

Greg’s intention to ask Pam to marry him is curtailed when he

inadvertently learns that he should first clear this with Daddy. He is

invited to spend the weekend with Pam’s parents.

This becomes complicated when Debbie (Nicole DeHuff), Pam’s younger

sister, announces her intention to wed within two weeks. She is bringing

her fiancee and his parents home that same weekend to meet her family.

Jack packs his bag with the engagement ring inside, and he and Pam

head for the airport. There are a couple of very funny scenes when Jack

has to check his bag because it will not go through the X-ray area. When

the airline loses his bag, the movie takes a couple of friendly pokes at

the airlines baggage handling system.

The real fun begins when they arrive at the family home on Long

Island, and Jack gets to meet the parents. No one is better than De Niro

at communicating without uttering a word. His nonverbal opinion of each

of Greg’s moves is hilarious.

Greg’s wish to please causes total self-consciousness and turns him

into a made-to-order klutz. Notably, Teri Polo and Blythe Danner

underplay their roles nicely. That leaves the interplay between Jack and

Greg as the whole focus of most of the scenes.

The built-in clues and cues for upcoming disasters are spelled out way

in advance -- the urn on the mantle which contain Jack’s mother’s ashes,

the proud fact that the cat is toilet trained, the simple statement that

their beloved cat has no outside survival skills all point you in the

right direction.

Stiller has some of the best facial expressions on the screen today,

especially his ability to look utterly befuddled when, with the best of

intentions, he manages to flood the cesspool, hit the urn with the

champagne cork, set the house on fire and liberate the cat.

The comedy and laughs generated by these shenanigans and the ability

to carry it off are all indications of thoroughly professional performers

and a good script. It is a real pleasure to be able to laugh

wholeheartedly at their antics.

o7 “Meet the Parents” is rated PG-13 for sexual content, drug

references and language. f7

* JOAN ANDRE, “over 65,” is Newport Beach resident who does a lot of

volunteer work.

‘Bootmen’ puts on a tap dancing show

“Say, guys. Let’s get the gang together and put on a show!”

This idea worked for Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney in “Babes on

Broadway,” and it still works in the energetic “Bootmen,” an Australian

film about a group of young tap-dancing mill workers.

One reason this time-tested plot line works here is because the film’s

director and co-writer, Dein Perry, is giving us a quasi-autobiographical

story of his own experiences growing up in the Australian town of

Newcastle, where Perry founded the dance troupe known as Tap Dogs.

The 1995 film “Tap Dogs” introduced this group’s exciting brand of

macho tap dancing. Since then, the Tap Dogs have performed all over the

world.

“Bootmen” stars Adam Garcia, who performed at the opening ceremony of

the Olympics in Sydney. He plays the lead role of Sean, a mill working

son of a mill worker who wants more out of life than he has.

When Sean was a child, his mother encouraged him to take dancing

lessons. Although his mother died when he was young, he has continued

taking lessons whenever he can. Tap dance, however, is still taught as an

elegant, top hat and tails dance style. Sean wants something newer -- a

tougher, more aggressive dance style set to the rhythm of rock and roll.

As you might suspect, a group of male tap dancers in a mill town is

not met with universal acceptance. Sean’s own father, played by Richard

Carter, has ambivalent feelings about his son’s passion for dance. He is

far more sympathetic toward Sean’s brother, Mitchell, who has added car

theft to his pursuits in an effort to raise enough cash to buy a truck.

Another conflict arises in Sean’s life when he an Mitchell both pursue

a lovely blond hairdresser, played by Sophie Lee.

But let’s face it. When all is said and done, what will really stay

with you after you leave the theater are the fabulous dance numbers,

especially the finale, which makes dynamic use of the steel mill setting

to create a glorious explosion of sound and motion.

o7 “Bootmen” is rated R for language, some violence and a scene of

sexuality.f7

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* JUNE FENNER, a Costa Mesa resident in her late 50s, is vice

president of a work force training company.