Product Description

Comedy about a dentist who gets mired in the bizarre intrigues of his daughter's soon-to-be father-in-law, who claims to be a CIA agent.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3089 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2003-05-13
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 103 minutes

Features

• With his daughter about to marry, Manhattan dentist Sheldon Kornpett is getting in over his head. The groom's father Vince Ricardo (who may/may not be CIA) has been in over his head so long he may have lost it totally. As played by Alan Arkin and Peter Falk, they're as different as night and day - and one of the funniest screen teams ever as The In-Laws. (The 2003 remake The Wedding Party stars Mi

Amazon.com
This 1979 comedy is absolutely indispensable for fans of Peter Falk, Alan Arkin, or Andrew Bergman, who wrote the film's screenplay and went on to direct The Freshman and Honeymoon in Vegas. (Let's forgive him for Striptease.) Arkin is extraordinarily funny as a dentist who quickly grows skeptical about the wild claims of his daughter's future father-in-law (Peter Falk) that he is a CIA agent. When he is drawn into a bizarre adventure in a banana republic, however, he takes a different view. Arthur Hiller (Love Story) provides serviceable direction, but the real draw here is the perfect chemistry between the two leads and Bergman's weirdly comic mind. Watch for the look on Arkin's face when Falk's character tells a story about giant tse-tse flies. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

five stars are not enough
All respect to Mel Brooks, early Woody Allen, Blake Edwards and any other brilliant filmmaker who has turned their talents to creating the ultimate comedy...they all must take a back seat to this film.

I've never experienced such a perfect merging of screenplay, characterization and direction. Arkin and Falk have a chemistry and timing that simply must be seen to be believed.

I've been a movie buff for a long time, but I must admit that totally missed this when it came out. In fact, it was running one night on a cable station in the mid 80s when I first saw it. I was visiting my parents, and on it came. I had just stopped in to say hello, but after the first 10 minutes I knew I wasn't going anywhere. I'll never forget sitting next to my father, who was in his seventies at the time, hearing him cracking up. He had a great laugh, a deep, full laugh, and I'd never in my life heard such pure joy come out of my father, who was a serious and subdued man. It may sound strange, but I felt closer to my father after watching this movie with. Sharing such a joyful experience with him will always be a very cherished memory.

Do yourself a favor. Find someone you love. Doesn't need to be romantic love, just someone who really counts in your life. Watch this movie with them. If it doesn't become a special memory, email me and complain.

Classic Comedy
This is, as you have read in other reviews, a great movie. My reason for writing this review is not to review the movie, you can read that in other reviews, but to let you know that the DVD is so much better than the VHS (I bought the VHS copy a couple of months before the DVD was available for pre-order, because I didn't think it would be coming out on DVD). That said, the banter between the Peter Falk and Alan Arkin is really great, and at some point, you will find yourself quoting parts of the movie. My wife, who does not like "these kinds of movies" laughed throughout the entire film. Anyway, get the DVD and give the VHS away, that's what I did.

The In-Laws is Insanely Funny
Serpentine, Shelley!

It would be a crime to give away almost anything about this movie, as each surprise is also an uproarious laugh fest. Let's just say that after a somewhat slow and amusing first 20 minutes, the movie takes off at a hilarious pace and never slows down again.

The synopsis is fairly simple: a respected dentist meets his daughter's future in-laws, immediately determines that the groom's father is crazy, and in a reluctant attempt to accept the situation, gets sucked into a rediculously funny web of international intrigue.

The performances are perfection. Alan Arkin as the bewildered dentist and Peter Falk as the possibly looney in-law are perfectly cast, as is the entire supporting cast of crazies.

This is the kind of movie that you gather a bunch of close friends to watch late at night, so that no one will be too inhibited to laugh out loud at it, which everyone will most certainly be doing.