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The In-Laws (1979)
The comic chemistry created by Peter Falk and Alan Arkin is at the center of 1979's the In-Laws, an often logic defying comic adventure that occasionally colors outside the lines of realism, but provides pretty solid laughs from opening to closing credits.
Alan Arkin plays Sheldon Kornpett, a dentist who is looking forward to meeting Vince Ricardo (Falk), the father of the guy his daughter is marrying on Sunday. By the end of their first dinner together, Sheldon is convinced Vince is nuts but before he can forbid his daughter to never marry into this family, Vince implicates Sheldon and his family in a theft from the US Mint, which eventually finds Sheldon and Vince on the run in Honduras.
The screenplay by Andrew Bergman (Honeymoon in Vegas)is fast-paced and jam-packed with fun one-liners, giving the dialogue a real Neil Simon quality. Vince's story is revealed to us methodically in order to gain sympathy for the character and by the time we have the whole story, even Sheldon is starting to change his mind about the guy and making us want the story to wrap perhaps a little quicker than it does.
Director Arthur Hiller (The Out of Towners (1970), Silver Streak)) is no stranger to action comedy and puts a great deal of detail into some of the best comic car chases I've seen in a minute. My favorite was the one where Vince repeatedly jumps a highway median and doing a U-turn, followed quickly by the bad guys. There's also an early scene of Sheldon being chased around a cab by a gun man who's a really bad shot that had me on the floor.
But more than anything, it is the work of Falk and Arkin that keeps this one on sizzle. Falk has the flashier role and doesn't make a false move during the film, but it's very easy to overlook Arkin's work here...it's much more subtle as we watch the Sheldon character try to keep his head while going through a meltdown. Watch him during the final firing squad scene...the character has clearly checked out. Richard Libertini steals every scene he has as a Mexican General who thinks he's Senor Wences. Nancy Dussault and Arlene Golonka were also fun as the guys' wives. The film was remade in 2003 with Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks in the Falk and Arkin roles, respectively, but they didn't have the chemistry that Falk and Arkin have.
The comic chemistry created by Peter Falk and Alan Arkin is at the center of 1979's the In-Laws, an often logic defying comic adventure that occasionally colors outside the lines of realism, but provides pretty solid laughs from opening to closing credits.
Alan Arkin plays Sheldon Kornpett, a dentist who is looking forward to meeting Vince Ricardo (Falk), the father of the guy his daughter is marrying on Sunday. By the end of their first dinner together, Sheldon is convinced Vince is nuts but before he can forbid his daughter to never marry into this family, Vince implicates Sheldon and his family in a theft from the US Mint, which eventually finds Sheldon and Vince on the run in Honduras.
The screenplay by Andrew Bergman (Honeymoon in Vegas)is fast-paced and jam-packed with fun one-liners, giving the dialogue a real Neil Simon quality. Vince's story is revealed to us methodically in order to gain sympathy for the character and by the time we have the whole story, even Sheldon is starting to change his mind about the guy and making us want the story to wrap perhaps a little quicker than it does.
Director Arthur Hiller (The Out of Towners (1970), Silver Streak)) is no stranger to action comedy and puts a great deal of detail into some of the best comic car chases I've seen in a minute. My favorite was the one where Vince repeatedly jumps a highway median and doing a U-turn, followed quickly by the bad guys. There's also an early scene of Sheldon being chased around a cab by a gun man who's a really bad shot that had me on the floor.
But more than anything, it is the work of Falk and Arkin that keeps this one on sizzle. Falk has the flashier role and doesn't make a false move during the film, but it's very easy to overlook Arkin's work here...it's much more subtle as we watch the Sheldon character try to keep his head while going through a meltdown. Watch him during the final firing squad scene...the character has clearly checked out. Richard Libertini steals every scene he has as a Mexican General who thinks he's Senor Wences. Nancy Dussault and Arlene Golonka were also fun as the guys' wives. The film was remade in 2003 with Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks in the Falk and Arkin roles, respectively, but they didn't have the chemistry that Falk and Arkin have.