Meeting the In-Laws

In Shrek 2, Shrek finds himself in one of life's most potentially nerve racking moments, meeting his mother and father in-law. Meeting your parent-in-laws is like a job interview. The whole time you just know that you are being scrutinized. You only hope that you are making a good impression. Hollywood has often used the "dealing with the parent-in-law" plot device to great effect.

In the 1934 film The Girl from Missouri, Jean Harlow goes to great length to prove to her future father in-law that she is not a gold digger out for his son's money. In 1954, Marilyn Monroe was very frank with her father in-law in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. He asks her, "Have you got the nerve to tell me you don't want to marry my son for his money?" She replies with all honesty that, "I want to marry him for YOUR money."

Fathers likewise meddle in their daughter's affairs. Claudette Colbert's father in 1934's It Happened one Night plays match maker on his daughter's wedding day to another man. He and future son in-law Peter, played by Clark Gable, exchange this classic dialogue:
"Do you love my daughter?" Gable, "Any guy that'd fall in love with your daughter ought to have his head examined."
The father, "Now that's an evasion!"
Gable: "She picked herself a perfect running mate, King Westley, the pill of the century! What she needs is a guy that'd take a sock at her once a day, whether it's coming to her or not. If you had half the brains you're supposed to have, you'd done it yourself, long ago."
Father: "Do you love her?"
Gable: "A normal human being couldn't live under the same roof with her without going nutty! She's my idea of nothing!"
Father: "I asked you a simple question! Do you love her?"
Gable: "YES!! But don't hold that against me, I'm a little screwy myself!"

Let us not forget the mother in-laws. Ethel Merman created one of the screens funniest and annoying. In 1963's It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Merman belittles, insults and nags son in-law Milton Berle across several state lines. When he attempts to comfort his wife by saying, "Now take it easy honey, these things happen ya know." His mother in-law barks at him, "Now what kind of an attitude is that, these things happen? They only happen because this whole country is just full of people, who when these things happen, they just say these things happen, and that's why they happen! We gotta have control of what happens to us." The final punchline of the movie is Merman getting hers.

One of the best dramatic films to deal with meeting the in-laws is 1967's Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? In it, a white girl brings her black fiancée home to meet her folks. The parents, played by Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn, are at first surprised by the union but later the father gives this advice, "Where John made his mistake I think was in attaching so much importance to what her mother and I might think, because in the final analysis it doesn't matter a damn what we think."

However, some in-laws are not so kind. Aurora, Shirley Maclaine, from Terms of Endearment and Norman, Henry Fonda, from On Golden Pond have little use and affection for their child's spouses. Norman attempts to embarrass his son in-law, while Aurora out right hates her's, "He can't even do the simple things, like fail locally."

One of the best comedies to ever handle meeting parents-in-law is 2000's Meet the Parents. In it, a nervous groom (Ben Stiller) attempts to impress his father in-law (Robert DeNiro), but ends up starting a fire, backing up a sewer and bloodies the face of a cousin. The father in law, in return, puts his future son in-law through an actual lie detector test. The shoe will soon be on the other foot. The sequel, Meet the Fockers, is due out later this year. The bride and her family will get to meet the groom's parents, played by Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand.

Coming out next year is the comedy,The Monster-in-law. Jane Fonda returns to the big screen to play a mother who tries to break up her son's wedding to Jennifer Lopez.

Whether on film or in real life, meeting the in-laws is often awkward and uncomfortable, but at least most of us don't have green skin and use our ear wax for candles. Shrek's first meeting with Fiona's parents turns out to be disastrous. Luckily, his best friend, Donkey, is around to cheer him up, "Oh, Shrek. Don't worry. Things just seem bad because it's dark and rainy and Fiona's father hired a sleazy hitman to whack you."