neumu [ cinematronic ]




	The In-Laws
	Andrew Fleming Michael Douglas, Albert Brooks, Robin Tunney, Ryan Reynolds, Candice Bergen, David Suchet, Lindsay Sloane 2003		What's the point in remaking a good old movie when you're not going to improve on it? The 1979 version of "The In-Laws" was not a work of comic genius, but it starred inherently funny Peter Falk and Alan Arkin as two radically different fathers about to see their children wed. The clash of the patriarchs (one's a secret agent on a dangerous assignment, the other's a prosaic doctor from the 'burbs) was the point, and "The In-Laws" had a frantic energy that spewed forth fun in a Cold War milieu. Despite script changes to reflect the world's political, social and technological changes, director Andrew Fleming's update of "The In-Laws," with Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks as the discordant dads, doesn't measure up to the original. It's superfluous twaddle, mired in forced sitcom setups and cheap payoffs. Douglas coasts as CIA operative and master of international espionage Steve Tobias, whose son is marrying the daughter of anal-retentive podiatrist Jerome Peyser. If there's a saving grace here, it's Brooks as fussy Jerome, appalled by the idea of welcoming Steve into the family. With Robin Tunney as Steve's assistant and Candice Bergen as his estranged wife.