[VIDEO REVIEWS]Something Funny, Something Fishy

New releases reviewed this week are "Meet the Parents" and "Bait."

MEET THE PARENTS (2000)

Directed by Jay Roach. Starring Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner and Owen Wilson.

In a range of roles, Ben Stiller has put the "slap" back into "slapstick," taking physical pain and humiliation all in the name of humor. In "There's Something About Mary," his genitals got caught in a zipper. He takes on the role of another awkward but lovable dork in "Meet the Parents."

Greg Focker (Stiller) is a male nurse ready to tie the knot with his girlfriend Pam Byrne (Polo). Just as Greg is about to pop the question, he finds out that Pam's sister Debbie is also getting married. Her fiance, Kevin Rawley (Wilson), secured the permission of Debbie's father before proposing.

Wanting to do things right, Greg decides to follow Kevin's lead. He puts the proposal on hold until he meets Pam's parents, Jack (De Niro) and Dinna (Danner). But the moment Greg and Jack lay eyes on each other, sparks fly. The wrong kind of sparks.

Greg tries desperately to make a good impression, but Jack is suspicious of anyone who tries to enter the Byrne family.

The movies bounces along from funny gags to outrageous crises. Thrown off by all that is going wrong, which is everything, Greg comes off as a lying, stammering underachiever who might smoke pot. Everything that a father-in-law does not want for his favorite daughter. Jack's impression of Greg gets worse when Greg loses the pet cat and wrecks the house in a hilarious series of catastrophes.

BAIT (2000)

Directed by Antoine Fuqua. Starring Jamie Foxx, David Morse, Doug Hutchinson, Kimberly Elise and Robert Pastorelli.

Alvin Sanders (Foxx), a bumbling, small-time thief, is thrown into jail for stealing prawns from a seafood warehouse. His cellmate is none other than John Jaster (Pastorelli), who was busted for a heist involving gold worth $40 million. His psychotic partner, Bristol (Hutchison), has since disappeared along with the gold.

Before long, John dies of a heart attack. The enraged U.S. Treasury Department chief investigator, Edgar Clenteen (Morse), suspects Alvin knows more than he is letting on. Alvin becomes a bait in a larger game to find Bristol, who killed two men while stealing the gold.

Edgar releases Alvin from jail earlier than his term. What Alvin doesn't know is that his jaw is wired with a tracking device. The government posts notices on the Internet saying that Alvin knows the whereabouts of the gold, hoping to draw out the criminal still at large.

Alvin gets back together with his girlfriend Lisa (Elise) and finds out he is a father. Forced to grow up, he soon realizes the real reason behind his early release and enters a deadly game of survival.

by Joe Yong-hee