The In-Laws
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: May 23, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
18
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Douglas brings a hilarious kind of Gordon Gekko assurance to his character, and Brooks' long-suffering, naggy persona -- which hasn't had a showcase this strong since "Lost in America" -- sparks off it like Hope with Crosby. Read full review
80
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Subtle it's not. Still, the film, directed by Andrew Fleming ("Dick"), gets large and plentiful laughs where it's supposed to. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Relies on comic formula -- but does so with more than usual panache. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
A remake, done right, was not a bad idea. And, fortunately in this case, it has been accomplished with some flair. The result is a lightweight source of entertainment that maximizes humor and minimizes serious stuff. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Ray Conlogue
But uneven acting isn't fatal here, since Andrew Bergman's screenplay is strong enough and Andrew Fleming's direction seamless enough to carry it forward. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyJohn Patterson
Fleming's more than passable, often extremely funny remake. Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
This is a movie that starts silly and just gets sillier -- at one point Candice Bergen shows up with a Buddhist monk -- but its laughs are sweet-natured, and Heaven knows the lead players earn every one. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
This In-Laws feels, in the end, formulaic and unnecessary, especially when the original is yours for the renting at the video store. Read full review
63
PremiereJill Bernstein
Albert Brooks is expertly cast as a hopelessly neurotic, fanny-pack-wearing podiatrist. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineAngel Cohn
Fans of the original may be disheartened by this glossier, action-packed version, but the brisker pacing and showy shoot-'em-up scenes are exactly what will appeal to the film's target audience. Read full review
50
The New York TimesDana Stevens
It's as if the director, Andrew Fleming, and the screenwriters, Nat Mauldin and Ed Solomon, set out to make a movie that would be mediocre in every respect. If so, they have completely succeeded. Read full review
50
VarietyRobert Koehler
The 2003 edition written by Nat Mauldin and Ed Solomon and helmed by Andrew Fleming places the Douglas-Brooks combo inside a much more complicated if not quite as funny world. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Big, bloated and only intermittently amusing. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Everything sly and low-key about The In-Laws, a 1979 comedy...is supersized and coarsened in Andrew Fleming's remake. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Brooks has long since mastered his whiny/neurotic persona, and Douglas does a passable version of giddy craziness. The young folks get lost in the shuffle, which leaves Suchet to steal the show with his fey, moist-eyed delivery. In this case, that's petty larceny. Read full review
50
SlateDavid Edelstein
Coarse and chaotic remake. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Like too many movies these days, takes a clever little idea and all but pounds it into the ground. Read full review
50
SalonCharles Taylor
This In-Laws isn't a disaster, it's just not very good. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
It seems downright unfair to harp on the remake’s differences from the original when both films are having such a ball. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
What's cutting- edge comedy for one generation can become generic filler for the next - that's the lesson to be learned from The In-Laws, a strenuous attempt to recycle a vastly funnier minor classic. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
While much of The In-Laws feels stuck in time, what really does it in is the script's boring, modern sensitivity to fatherhood, and bonding with one's kids, and all that enlightened parenthood crap. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Overdoes it and falls on its farce. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Seems conventional in its ideas about where it can go and what it can accomplish. You don't get the idea anyone laughed out loud while writing the screenplay. It lacks a strange light in its eyes. It is too easily satisfied. Read full review
50
USA TodayMike Clark
Tolerably tepid. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Perhaps the oddest thing about The In-Laws is that it's aimed at an audience old enough to remember not only the original, but also how much funnier it seemed at the time. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Why do filmmakers persist in remaking films that were already great to begin with? Why not instead remake bad movies that had terrific premises? Read full review
40
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
It winds up like all Hollywood comedies these days--merely resembling something funny. Read full review
38
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Misses out on just about everything that made the original work, most notably Falk and Arkin, whose odd-couple pairing was the foundation on which the entire movie rested. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Perhaps the biggest disappointment is that The In-Laws was directed by Andrew Fleming, who delivered the fizzy Nixon-era comedy ''Dick'' a few years back and who also had a hand in ''Grosse Pointe,'' the wicked, briefly-lived WB parody of TV teen dramas. The man obviously knows from satire, but not on the evidence of anything here. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
All that's missing is wit and humanity.
20
Los Angeles TimesGene Seymour
They (Brooks and Douglas) are so out of sync with each other that they seem to be looking for different movies to take their acts, though neither makes you want to see those hypothetical films. Not even as an option to this one. Read full review
10
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
A walking-talking affront to every middle-class middle-ager it intends to sucker, this remake of the 1979 accidental-classic screwball hits every wrong note and trips on every chair leg. Read full review
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