The narrative's set over an extremely long weekend in the life of Steve Tobias (Douglas), deep-cover CIA operative and absentee dad. Steve's stuck trying to broker a multinational sting while heading to Chicago for the wedding of his barely forgiving son Mark (Ryan Reynolds) and his fiancee Melissa (Lindsay Sloane). Compounding the awkwardness is the first meeting with the father of the bride; Jerry Peyser (Brooks), a fussy, insular podiatrist, is instantly wary of "copier salesman" Steve's gladhanding front and abrupt disappearances.
Jerry's distrust kicks into overdrive once he's hauled in FBI agents who've been monitoring Steve's activities. Steve's left with no other response than to rescue the disbelieving doctor from the feds and shanghai him along for an overseas rendezvous with the manic French drug runner Thibodoux (Davis Suchet). The riotous challenges in escaping certain death, to say nothing of getting to the reception on time, take the story to its conclusion.
Screenwriters Nat Mauldin and Ed Solomon did a creditable job of lifting Andrew Bergman's high concept and little else in drafting their rewrite, and director Andrew Fleming (The Craft, Dick) gave a polished, straightforward effort in the presentation. The covert world that Steve Tobias inhabits is understandably rendered in higher tech and higher gloss than that of Falk's Vince Ricardo in the original of a generation past. Fleming described the sought-after look in his commentary as a "Scott Brothers movie," and it makes the contrast with the muted depiction of Jerry's mundane existence all the more striking. The title roles make a comfortable fit for the two leads, with Douglas well-suited to the aging man of action and Brooks in familiar territory as the risk-averse nebbish. Moreover, they demonstrate a decent comic rapport, which keeps The In-Laws entertaining even when the script veers into the overindulgent or the overfamiliar.
The supporting players are also game. Suchet's supervillain isn't as outrageously around the bend as Richard Libertini's in the original, but it's measured, funny work, with his struggles in coming to grips with a homosexual attraction to Brooks standing out. Candice Bergen gets a lot out of a little screen time as Douglas' strident, New Age-y ex-wife, and Reynolds and Sloane are sufficiently sympathetic as the beleaguered couple-to-be. Robin Tunney gives a nice effort as Douglas' spy-grrrl protege, despite the fact that the script does her no favors in the last few reels.
Warner has released The In-Laws in both full-screen and widescreen editions, with the latter presented in the original theatrical 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The mastering and the Dolby Surround 5.1 audio are exceptionally clean. The extras menu is less substantial than appears on first blush. Fleming's full-length commentary is the highlight, and while he provides sufficient insights to make it worth the listen, the dead space is noticeable. Rounding things out are the film's gag reel (only so-so); three deleted scenes; two intriguing sequences of Brooks at work, as the camera keeps rolling through multiple takes; and the theatrical trailers for both the '79 and '03 versions.
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by Jay S. Steinberg
