Review of The In-Laws (2003) by Chris W — 22 Aug 2008

I had the misfortune of watching this re-make of the Alan Arkin movie from the 70's last night. What a mess. It's hard to find anything positive to say about this so-called comedy. Watching a far too old Michael Douglas in hand-to-hand combat with super-spies was just embarrassing.

Albert Brooks played the same character he always plays, but his neurotically nebbish schtick is now tiresome and unlikeable. Ryan Reynolds appears to have cast himself as a wet lettuce and (with possibly the exception of Robin Tunney) all female roles were horribly underwritten.

Only David Suchet redeems himself as the camp-as-a-row-of-tents smuggling despot, but this doesn't save the movie from being an insipid collection of poor set-pieces and annoying characters. It even has the obligatory 'celebrity' cameo ("Hey look, it's KC and The Sunshine Band!!"), which had me hiding behind a cushion in embarrassment.

Near the start of the movie, during an 'hilarious' car chase, Brooks screams "Stop! This isn't funny!". I now realise that he wasn't yelling at the driver of the car; he was pleading to the film's director!