Greg: Pam, I really can't stay here another night. I feel like I'm under a curse or something. It's like, if I open my mouth, I offend somebody. If I touch something, it breaks. I throw a stick out in the water, the dog drowns, you know... What next?
Meet The Parents is a 1992 independent Kafka Komedy that is Exactly What It Says on the Tin, written by, directed by, and starring Greg Glienna. The film was not widely distributed and so is not well known in general public circles. However, Universal Pictures bought the rights from Glienna in 1995 to adapt his indie comedy into a 2000 major Hollywood feature directed by Jay Roach, with an expanded script from Jim Herzfeld.
The story is presented as a Show Within a Show: a gas station owner warns an engaged customer against meeting his fiancée's parents, claiming he knew another man who did the same with tragic results. He then spins the narrative of an advertising agent named Greg (no last name), who takes his fiancée Pam Burns to meet her parents, Irv and Kay, for a weekend and unwittingly sets off countless accidents that slowly soil his reputation with the family. In a desperate bid to regain a tiny shred of his reputation, Greg listens to Pam's sister Fay, who incorrectly thinks he has ties with Ed McMahon, sing an audition song for Star Search. To get back at him for mildly criticizing her audition, Fay accuses Greg of wanting to cheat on Pam with her, then hangs herself with a sign around her neck reading "Greg killed me". In a surprise twist, Irv's attempt to shoot Greg backfires, and he kills Kay and Pam before dying suddenly of a heart attack, while Greg miraculously turns out fine.
Though it's hard to find a physical copy, the film may be viewed here
in its entirety on Greg Glienna's official YouTube channel.
Note: For the trope about introducing a partner to the other partner's parents, see Meet the In-Laws.
The film provides examples of:
- Actor Allusion: Greg works as an advertising agent whose job includes writing commercials. His actor also happens to be the screenwriter of this feature.
- Ashes to Crashes: On Sunday night, Greg and Pam debate over whether to stay one more night after Greg fails to fix his car and while they are in the room with the ashes of Irv's mother Penny. Greg closes the door strongly enough when they walk out to send Penny's picture falling off the wall and breaking the urn.
- Bait-and-Switch: "The Country Doctor": a delightful, whimsical film starring Andy Griffith as a small-town doctor whose eccentric ways make him the talk of the town, and Sandy Duncan as a woman visiting from a big city who gets a lesson in his small-town ways. Sounds innocuous, right? Well, at least until Griffith's character strips Duncan's character, rapes her, and murders her with a chainsaw, giving her a very different type of lesson.
- Bar Brawl: Greg narrowly escapes one when he earns the ire of Pam's ex-boyfriend Lee.
- Big "NO!": Kay lets out one in attempting to stop Irv from charging after Greg with his gun.
- Bittersweet Ending: Greg makes it out of the Burns house alive and well despite all the damage, but it's because the love of his life is accidentally slain by her father, who also kills his wife by mistake before dropping dead of a heart attack. So, tragically, he now has to start his whole love life over again, but at least it's with a clean conscience since no one who remembers his accidents is still alive.
- Black Comedy: Darker than the Hollywood version of the story since the whole Burns family dies, but Greg lives.
- Bookends: The film begins and ends with the gas station owner telling a different customer to "turn around" from wherever he is going and proceeding to tell a tale about a man in a situation similar to that customer’s with an outcome the owner calls "tragic".
- Butt-Monkey: Greg. It's not really his fault that all these horrible accidents happen. He's not malevolently trying to ruin the weekend. Though the Burns family acknowledges this and is willing to forgive the first few accidents, their forgiving attitude wanes over the film.
- On a fishing boat, Irv asks Greg if he broke his Victrola the previous night, and Greg admits that he broke the crank handle while attempting to turn it and hid it under the sofa. Irv gives no further comments.
- When Greg closes a door that causes a picture of Irv's mother, Penny, to fall onto an urn containing her ashes, a look of complete shock overcomes Irv's face before he screams. Again, he remains coldly silent on the matter at dinner. Greg has really crossed the line now.
- Can't Take Criticism: Fay. Greg wants to end the weekend on a positive note by praising her signing audition. She begs him for criticism until he finally caves in and says she needs more lessons. She goes into full rage mode, declaring that she is already talented enough and won't give up on her dream, then accuses Greg of wanting to bed her and frames him for her suicide.
- Con Man: The video store employee played by producer Emo Philips in his Creator Cameo is a cuddlier example of this. He cheerfully states that every film his various customers want to rent is "his favorite" to guarantee rentals, including Greg's renting of "The Country Doctor", a seemingly family friendly film starring Andy Griffith and Sandy Duncan that turns out to be a cheap exploitation film rife with violence and sex, with Griffith playing a chainsaw killer who first strips down and rapes his victims. It's nothing personal, really—he only does this to keep his job, not because he wants to ruin Greg's reputation.
- Creator Cameo: Producer and assistant director James Vincent appears as the gas station owner, while associate producer Emo Philips appears as a video store employee.
- Cringe Comedy: From Greg unintentionally snapping the crank off Irv's Victrola to causing everyone in the Burns family to die, this comedy may not always make the audience laugh, but the singularity of Greg Glienna's dark approach will likely impress indie film fans.
- Digging Yourself Deeper: Like his Hollywood counterpart, Greg can't seem to stop himself from making mistakes.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Fay hangs herself with a "Greg killed me" sign around her neck, to frame him for said suicide after he reluctantly gave slight criticism of her singing voice. It's even further built upon when Irv attempts to murder Greg even though he technically didn't kill her.
- Driven to Suicide: Fay hangs herself after Greg tells her that she needs more singing lessons and she deludes herself into believing Greg would want to cheat on Pam with her. To be fair, she did try to force criticism out of him despite his attempts to shower her with compliments and regain trust with the Burnses.
- Eye Poke: Greg comes close on the first night to poking out Kay's eye with a fishing pole Irv presents him with for the family fishing trip while casually waving it around, so Irv rushes her to the local emergency room. The Burns matriarch spends the rest of the film with a large and unseemly eye patch held in place by multiple bandages.
- Fat Bastard: Pam's brutish, obnoxious, beer-bellied ex-boyfriend Lee, who challenges Greg to a bar brawl when he tries to politely tell him that Pam is not interested in dancing with him.
- Stout Irv becomes this when he refuses to believe Greg as he says he had no intent of cheating on Pam with Fay, then attempts to kill Greg after he sees Fay's corpse with a "Greg killed me" sign around her neck.
- Foregone Conclusion: Downplayed. The gas station owner notes that the story of Greg ended tragically while warning his newest customer against meeting his future in-laws. But he doesn't initially say how it ended or why it was tragic, keeping the audience guessing as to what could be the final disaster.
- Glamorous Single Mother: Irv says that, after his father left his family when he was a child, his now-deceased mother Penny worked hard to raise the family on her own.
- Good Shepherd: The priest at the family's church. His sermon about the Prodigal Son and its themes of forgiveness gives Greg a glimmer of hope that his would-be parents-in-law will forgive him for his misfortunes. They do not, but if Greg were to speak to the priest, he would no doubt be sympathetic to his plight.
- Hypocrite: Irv frames Greg for marijuana cigarettes planted in his luggage by Fay while smoking a huge tobacco cigar. Later, the family church's priest leads a Sunday sermon about parents showing forgiveness towards their children (and children-in-law, by extension of this film), referencing Jesus' famous parable of the Prodigal Son. He seems to imply that true forgiveness should be unconditional, but Irv, a devout churchgoer, becomes increasingly unwilling to extend this courtesy to Greg.
- Also, Fay is ferociously determined to get suggestions for improving her singing voice from Greg (who in turn is no expert on the matter) yet explodes in rage over Greg innocently saying she needs more lessons.
- I Miss Mom: Irv loves his late mother Penny so much that he still keeps an urn containing her ashes in a private room in his house. He often talks to the urn late at night and once put a hat Penny likely wore in life on it. As a result, he is mildly upset by Greg using the phrase "A penny saved is a penny earned" while trying to explain his fiscal responsibility and horrified when Greg closes a door that causes her photo to fall onto the urn, shattering it and scattering the ashes.
- The Immodest Orgasm: Heard but not seen coming from several couples on the Burns' TV while Greg is flipping channels and in "The Country Doctor" film starring Andy Griffith, the last actor one would expect to play a chainsaw killer who rapes his victims before killing them. It's pretty much the only R-rated content in this independent feature, where there's not a drop of blood and very infrequent/mild adult language.
- It's Been Done: At his first dinner with the Burns family, Greg discusses his work in advertising, and Irv asks him if he can pitch an idea for an invention. Unfortunately, Irv's description of the invention is literally a weed whacker, and he's disappointed to hear that such a gardening power tool already exists. He's never seen one because he doesn't watch much late-night TV.
- Kafka Comedy: Described by critics as the ultimate worst-case scenario comedy. As stated in the film's tagline, "Into each life, some rain must fall... Greg better build an ark.".
- Karma Houdini: According to the gas station owner, while we never see where Irv's bullet intended for Greg lands after he fires his gun, Greg literally dodged two bullets that killed Kay and Pam and escaped being punished for Fay's suicide after Irv dropped dead of a heart attack on the stairs.
- Justified here because, with no witnesses left alive, no evidence ties Greg to the suicide. Fay's suicide message, "Greg killed me", doesn't even reveal his last name, and Greg is a fairly common male name in the Anglophone world; hence, if the police were to investigate the house and find Fay's corpse, they would have no way of knowing which of the many Gregs in existence would be responsible. It's also possible that, with no one left alive to stop him, Greg disposed of Fay's sign, if not her body altogether…
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Per the above quote, Greg hangs a lampshade on his Butt-Monkey levels of misfortune and believes he's under a curse (one which, evidently, the writers have put him under).
- Manipulative Bitch: Fay will stop at nothing to get Greg to listen to her singing audition and stubbornly believes he has ties with Ed McMahon despite his telling her over and over that he only wrote a commercial where McMahon happened to be cast as the spokesperson without ever meeting him. She finally succeeds when Greg has crossed the line one too many times and is clinging on to what little dignity he has left.
- On the first night, she offers Greg marijuana before going to bed. Greg refuses, and she plants two joints in his travel bag in case he changes his mind. This puts him at odds with Irv the next morning, who tells him to keep marijuana outside the house even though Greg insists the joints aren't his.
- To get back at Greg for criticizing her singing audition, she accuses Greg of wanting to sleep with her to help her get on Star Search, then hangs herself and pins the blame for her misery on him.
- Mistaken for Cheating: How Fay sees Greg entering her bedroom and saying seductive words intended for Pam.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Believing Greg is responsible for Fay's suicide, Irv, who has had enough of Greg's mishaps, quickly grabs his gun and charges after Greg just before the poor young man can walk out of the house. He ends up shooting his wife and daughter instead.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The audio we hear from the unseen "Country Doctor" film features spot-on voice impressions of Andy Griffith and Sandy Duncan.
- No Full Name Given: Greg's last name is never revealed, perhaps to present him as ethnically ambiguous as possible so anyone who's ever felt like they've had an unlucky streak can relate to his situation.
- No Listening Skills: During one of his dismissals of Fay begging him to hear her sing, Greg lampshades this, saying she's not even hearing him when he once again says he has never met Ed McMahon.
- Nostalgia Filter: Regarding moral standards declining in entertainment, Irv reminisces about how great the much tamer Andy Griffith Show was back in his youth after Greg rents The Country Doctor, which isn't quite what he and the family would expect for a film starring Griffith.
- Not Under the Parents' Roof: Greg is asked sleep on the living room couch during the visit despite the fact that he and Pam share a bed back home in Chicago, as she notes that her parents are very traditional about abstinence until after marriage.
- Not What It Looks Like: On the first night, Greg declines Fay's offer of marijuana, but she plants two joints in his travel bag anyway in case he changes his mind. The next morning, Irv frames Greg, who counters that the joints aren't his. Shortly after, Kay notices a missing $50 bill from her purse, leading her to conclude that Greg stole the bill to fuel his "filthy marijuana habit"; in truth, Greg merely took a $50 bill out of an ATM the previous night, which Pam witnessed. The real reason why Kay's bill went missing is strangely never explained.
- Papa Wolf: Irv, to his daughters. He is initially trusting of Greg but makes it a point to verify that trust with questions and comments that test Greg's morality. His trust decreases, and his Papa Wolf instincts correspondingly increase, as Greg's accidents escalate. By the time Fay incorrectly frames Greg for wanting to sleep with her and Pam believes her revenge lie, Irv has had enough of him, and he shouts, "Get out!" in defense of his daughters as Greg gives him one last silent look before approaching the front door. Once Irv discovers Fay has hanged herself, he takes things up to eleven and becomes a Knight Templar Parent by attempting to murder Greg on the spot.
- Parental Marriage Veto: Irv angrily orders Greg to leave after falling for Fay's claim that Greg wanted to cheat on Pam with her.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Emo the video store employee says this about every film customers consider renting: "That's! My! FAVORITE!".
- Sadist Show: Anything that can go wrong for Greg does, but he's not the only one to experience misfortune since the whole Burns family dies by the end.
- Shout-Out:
- Greg and Pam are deciding what video to rent for the whole family to enjoy when Greg dismisses a film starring Mel Gibson as "too violent".
- Irv discusses how much he enjoyed The Andy Griffith Show when it was on the air.
- Fay mentions that her Star Search audition song, "When Philip's There", was written by David, her voice teacher, for a musical adaptation of Jaws.
- Show Within a Show: The main story is told from the perspective of a gas station owner to a customer driving out to meet his future in-laws.
- Smash Cut: Irv fires his gun, and the story of Greg's nightmare weekend ends right on cue, returning us to the gas station from the beginning of the film.
- Sound-Only Death: While we never see the horrors of "The Country Doctor" film unfold, we hear the sound of Andy Griffith's character laughing evilly as he uses a chainsaw to slash away at Sandy Duncan's screaming character. At the same time, we see Greg and the Burnses react with shock and disgust. Only Fay, being the rebel of the family, enjoys what's happening.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: The original song "Keep Smiling" (written by Greg Glienna and performed by Walter Tabayoyong) plays when Greg, driving the Burns family car, enters the local supermarket's parking lot to buy ziplock bags for the family picnic despite his increasing misfortunes. Things get worse when he parks to close to a lamp post and knocks the cover of the driver's side rear view mirror clean off.
- Spoiler Cover: The VCR box art pictured above reveals most of the credited characters (including Irv's mother Penny, whose portrayer, Patsy Glenn, is apparently credited despite only her likeness appearing in a photo). Likewise, it references half the mishaps Greg causes. Even Irv is seen brandishing the gun he uses to attempt to kill Greg in the climax.
- Surprise Car Crash: A hit-and-run driver hits the Burns family car while Greg is driving it back from the supermarket.
- Theme Naming: Not every living human character in the film is named, but those who are all have monosyllabic names: Greg, Pam, Irv, Kay, Fay, and Lee. All of these names except Greg's are each three letters long, furthering his status as an outsider to the Burns family's world.
- Bingo the dog and Irv's deceased mother Penny are the odd names out in the whole named cast with their two-syllable names.
- Title Theme Tune: "Meet the Parents" is also the name of the song heard in the opening credits, written by associate producer Emo Philips and performed by Mary Louise Herrold.
- Troll: Possibly the gas station owner himself. Are Greg and Pam real people in this universe? Did any of the events he describes actually happen? Or is he just making up this story because he's bored and likes to amuse himself by frightening his customers?
- The question is raised again with the second customer at the end of the film when the owner advises him against taking his kids to the circus, beginning a new story about a man in a similar situation like before.
- Your Television Hates You: After the first dinner, Greg flips through channels on the TV to try to find something the whole family, including the conservative Irv and Kay, can enjoy, only to find that almost everything on has a passionate sex scene with audible moans or is a commercial for something related to hemorrhoids, menstrual cycles, etc.
- This happens again after Bingo the dog drowns. Every channel Irv flips to has something to do with dogs, leaving the already sobbing Kay inconsolable.
