The In-Laws

The In-Laws

The In-Laws

I've seen this movie and I think it's great! The previews have been stuck in my head for ages. Since the age of 5, I would try to picture the streets of New York in the back of my mind. And I picture the streets very well. This movie is a lot of fun, I liked the banana scene, I also loved the all the other scenes as well. The escape scene where the hapless dentist got the engraving plates from the office. And I liked the part where Peter Falk's character shoots Paul L. Smith in the arm. At least he lives. Though Falk's character hasn't been home for a while, he got a chance to see "The Price is Right" , it's one of my favorite game show of all times. Thae cute scene in the movie was the hand puppet of the leader of the country the duo were in. There is more I could say about the movie is when the two feuding in-laws got to the wedding on time in a seated parachute, and what more could you want from a movie like that. Be part of the family in which the in-law feeds on danger. The In-Laws is a true classic to the collector. 10+!

Having read a number of reviews, I have to wonder if I saw the same movie everyone else did. I will have to admit that I do not like Allen Arkin, but not even Arthur Hiller, an actor, and director that I very much respect, could breathe life into this flaccid and boring script. I happen to have seen this film recently, and I discovered that I disliked it even more than I did when I saw it in a theater in 1978. One has to question a film's worth when its best joke/gag consists of Falk and Arkin fleeing from gunfire screaming, Serpentine, Shelly...Serpentine...big yuk!!! Perhaps I expect too much from film comedies, but I like to laugh as much as the next guy, but I found myself checking my watch wondering when this experience would be over

This film began the series, continued when Danny DiVito says "Ooops. Cows." The homage of "Oops. Some creature", always makes me laugh. The interjection into a chase scene of two frames of a pig, or a cow or whatever, which began in The "In-Laws", even makes "No Soap. Radio" amusing, but only in relation. Yes, yes, yes, the funnest American film of the last fifty years, bar none. Some are as funny as, but none are funnier. And the Godless creatures who did the re-make should be ashamed for the rest of their lives. After the original nothing else will ever be quite as good. But the remake was just AWFUL! I still pause and re-wind on ""Ooops. Pigs." I would rather have dental work than watch the remake. K.A.Muston

Inane farce with Peter Falk involving future in-law Alan Arkin is a CIA romp. The chase scenes and shootings become actually annoying in this film which lacks real humor. When our two heroes meet a dictator of Honduras, he tells them that his army people once worked as security guards for J.C. Penney? This is supposed to be funny. Methinks not. For the straight dentist Arkin portrays, after a while, he seems to be enjoying himself and does pretty well in dodging bullets along the way.The only funny scene here is that woman left with the cement in her mouth as the two fools make their escapade. Maybe, she succeeds because she is quiet. This is what the rest of the film should have been like.

The premise of this film is really simple: if two families are about to enjoy the union of their children in a marriage, is it not likely that the in-laws involved can come to depend and help each other out in times of need? Most of us would probably say no, or want to know the extent of the help. However, when Vincent J. Ricardo (Peter Falk) asks Dr. Sheldon Kornpett (Alan Arkin) to assist him in retrieving something from a safe in Ricardo's office, Kornpett is willing (if somewhat suspiciously) to do it. The reason that Kornpett is suspicious is he is not quite certain what to make of Ricardo. They only met at Kornpett's house the night before, for a dinner party introducing the families of the bride (Kornpett's) and groom (Ricardo's) to each other. Ricardo acted...well oddly. He told tales of his business travels in Central America, including how in one country babies are being carried off by huge bats that are protected by the Guacamole Act of 1917. Kornpett hears this with a blank face, although his eyes do bug out a little in disbelief. Later, when Ricardo gets testy with his son over a comment about the former not being home enough, Kornpett can't believe the near rage that Ricardo demonstrates at the table. So his suspicions about his future in-law seem well based. Shortly, after being chased and nearly killed by two men who are after the items that Kornpett picked up, the suspicions seem confirmed. Ricardo explains to him, over pea soup in a restaurant, that he actually is not a successful salesman but a C.I.A. operative (a photo in Ricardo's office confirms this: it is of President Kennedy, and the autograph refers to the Bay of Pigs Invasion). He is in the middle of a critically important mission in Latin America dealing with international finance and a conspiracy against the richest nations. Kornpett hears him out, and is upset to hear that there is more material that Ricardo hid in Kornpett's home the night before. He wants no part of it, and leaves to go home - only to find the police there. He flees, and does evade capture - at the cost of having his car repainted in a way he never would have wanted it to look. Soon Kornpett is forced to join forces with Ricardo, and enters the deadly serious but (here) quite farcical world of international espionage and intrigue. At the end of the road is the ringleader of the conspiracy, General Garcia (Richard Libertini) who has a special little friend that makes Al Pacino's little friend in SCARFACE lethal but sensible in comparison. THE IN-LAWS is funny. Arkin with his tight-ass repressive personality works well against the free-wheeling, anything goes Falk. Libertini appears only in the films last twenty minutes, but he does equally nicely as the ultimate in screw-ball dictators. Well supported by a cast including Nancy Dussault, Arlene Golonka, Penny Peyser, Michael Lembeck, and Ed Begley Jr. the film is just a laugh fest until the happy ending. As mentioned elsewhere in these comments Arkin and Falk should have made several films together. They have only done one other movie together since THE IN-LAWS. Pity.

Watched it again this weekend and laughed as hard - no, harder - than the previous 20 viewings! What is it about this movie? It gets FUNNIER every time. Oh sure, everyone comments here about the biggest laugh: Serpentine! Arguably one of the funniest in film history. But there are SO MANY great lines and moments: "There's no reason to shoot at me, I'm a dentist!" "Left turn at The General Garcia Toll Bridge...it's a fitting tribute general...yes, much better than a statue." "We have no blindfolds senor, we are a poor country." Vince: "from here on in it's very cut and dry." Shelley: "it's not cut. it's not dry." How about Shelley's expression as the general pours cold water into his own hand to calm down his agitated friend? And the airline safety instructions delivered by Billy (or is it Bing?) in Chinese. IT JUST GOES ON AND ON! Tell everyone you know, don't go see the remake - rent the original!

This movie is absolutely hysterical. And I do not mean very funny. I mean it is hysterical. The plot is that a CIA operative and a dentist, played superbly and respectively by Peter Falk and Alan Arkin, are about to become in-laws because their two children are to be married. But Falk, about to retire from his clandestine duties, needs Arkin's help to pull off one final mission. From beginning to end the antics of these two will leave you in side-splitting humor. And the performance by Richard Libertini as a South American dictator is equal to Falk and Arkin's contribution to this classic comedy. If you want to see an intelligent and realistic film that is extremely funny from start to finish then this is it. Don't miss it!

peter faulk and alan arkin make a great comedy,team, because they counterbalance each other. With a great script and a very funny adjoining cast of characters, arkin and falk takes us to a various locales and absurd locations to show a great talent of comedic timing between the two of them one being a dentist and the other, a character of enigmatic qualities. Have to see this one.