Meet the mother-in-law, a romantic comedy review

Review of Meet the Mother-in-Law, in which special occasion actors play the role of future mothers-in-law who are actually lovers: a situation that threatens to destroy a child marriage. Tonight on Sky and available NOW.

Michelle and Allen have been engaged for some time, but while she hopes that sooner or later she will make a cherished marriage proposal, he continues to play for time. The classic straw that breaks a camel’s back is at a friends wedding, during which Allen throws the bouquet into the air with a cat-like leap to blow it to his partner, rightly offended from that moment and ready to give him an ultimatum.

as we tell you in Review of Meet the mother-in-lawseems like the perfect opportunity to reveal their intentions is an evening hosted specifically to introduce their parents, who have never met before. It’s a pity that her father, Howard, has been having an affair with his mother, Monica, for four months now… and that just a few hours earlier, her mother, Grace, had met Sam, his father, with whom he spent the whole night. . It goes without saying that this educational meeting will end with unforeseen consequences…

I, he, she and others

As you probably already guessed from the above synopsis, we have a comedy of misunderstandings that begins with paradoxical premises, although never exactly seen, namely the fact that the parents of the two future spouses are mutually in love with each other. AND Meet your mother-in-law

, the Italian title referring to the successful trilogy starring Ben Stiller, only reinforces this sense of improbability in its daring narrative based precisely on the gags and expressions that play on this forced allusion. The first ones we know are the characters Diane Keaton and William H. Macywho meet at the cinema at night, where they show old romantic films, and then spend the next hours together; shortly after the turn Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon, on one of their many dates in a luxury hotel room. Only the last they arrive Emma Roberts and Luke Braceyyoung lovers who are currently in crisis because of those weddings that are always delayed.

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Parade of stars

Thus, the cast of great events turns out to be a huge waste of talent, as I present to you the life of relatives on bad decisions and on the general monotony of the assumption: during an hour and a half of viewing, we actually become witnesses of quarrels, bickering and various reconciliations, until that happy ending which could only be easily foreseen. The four unfaithful “parents” save the shack with their jobs, but the script could have given a few more nuances to a context that thrives on stereotypes and clichés, with deliberately caricatured and neurotic characterizations, to justify the couple’s associated crises between jealousy and lies. with short legs.

Media question

Thus, the rediscovery of past and now recurring feelings pervades the second part of the story, where the four pretenders face their mistakes and mistakes and are given a providential opportunity to correct them before it’s too late. It is no coincidence that the heated struggle is reflected in the respective children, and so much so that at some point – for a brief moment – it seems that the marriage itself is at great risk. Director Michael Jacobs has adapted his play for the big screen, but what may have made more sense to exist in a limited space in front of an audience of viewers doesn’t work as well on the big screen as the times and ways that are sacrificed here in in favor of typically Hollywood frivolity, dissipating the emotional veins of the parties involved, is here reduced to more or less (un)voluntary caricatures.