The In-Laws

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Rob A One of the best comedies of all-time! Falk and Arkin are fantastic! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 10/22/24 Full Review Audience Member Great script Great lead duo in Arkin and Falk Great direction Nonstop Laughs Timeless classic comedy= PERFECTION Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 06/15/24 Full Review Audience Member Without a doubt, the greatest comedy in cinematic history. Absolutely brilliant. Perfectly casted. The dynamic between Alan Arkin & Peter Falk in this film best any film duo that has ever been. Falk plays a fantastic dreamer that ‘possibly’ works for the CIA and Arkin is a dentist from New Jersey whose daughter is marrying Falk’s son. The question is, can the two father in-laws make it to the wedding while being perused by the FBI, the mafia and a corrupt foreign government cartel? This movie will never be dated. A must see!!! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/13/24 Full Review Alec B The screenplay could easily have been a little tighter but Falk and Arkin are terrifically cast and the weirder the movie gets the better it is, especially in the final act. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/10/24 Full Review Steve D The remake shows the idea can work but this one is NEVER funny. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 08/15/23 Full Review Matthew D The In-Laws is one of the funniest 70's comedies! Canadian director Arthur Hiller brings a lively and playful energy to his absurdist comedy The In-Laws (1979). Hiller thrusts his heroes into an oddball pairing of the straight laced Alan Arkin alongside an insane and conniving Peter Falk. They are hilarious together. Hiller delivers gritty 70's crime direction for the truck heist and safe breaker sequences alongside genuinely absurdist humor for the impromptu airplane sequence and ridiculous dictator encounter. Writer Andrew Bergman slaps two strange character actors together for a wild adventure and one of the 1970's genuinely silliest and funniest comedies. From Serpentine to the general's new flag, The In-Laws has tons of laughs. I loved the CIA reveal alongside all of Falk's truly outrageous lies, or are they? Executive producer Alan Arkin got this crazy movie made just to work with Falk and that's just sweet. Casting director Dianne Crittenden found all sorts of cool character actors for the supporting roles too! Editor Robert Swink slick cutting keeps The In-Laws at a sprinting pace for 103 brisk minutes. Cinematographer David M. Walsh captures speeding car chases and frantic running around for hilarious thrills that are well shot. Production designer Pato Guzman creates a lavish general's lair to an ordinary dentist's office. Set decorators Ernie Bishop and Robert De Vestel put tons of funny props and furniture in the general's compound for a lark. Peter Falk's raving and rambling lunatic Vince Ricardo is hysterical. From his strange gestures, funny faces, deadpan seriousness, ludicrous stories, and improvised survival tactics, Falk gives one of his most hilarious acting performances in The In-Laws. Alan Arkin is a scream as the highly strung dentist and straight man opposite Falk named Sheldon Kornpett. Vince and Shelly have a real adventure worthy of your time. Their sheer charisma alone makes the film worth seeking out, but they also elevate the role with wildly erratic movements and vocal gags for even more laughs. Richard Libertini is ridiculous as the overly friendly dictator with a secret named General Garcia. Nancy Dussault's Carol Kornpett and Penny Peyser's Barbara Kornpett are great as they believe the dentist must have been roped into a scheme of Vince's. Arlene Golonka's Jean Ricardo and Michael Lembeck's Tommy Ricardo are amusing as they immediately blame Vince for the shenanigans. James Hong's cameo is a scream as the Chinese pilot speaking only Cantonese. Ed Begley, Jr. is great as the skeptical CIA agent Barry Lutz. Conductor Carmen Dragon even cameos with the orchestra in the end. Composer John Morris provides a very playful and bubbly film score. All the stunt performers did amazing work with the car chase. Sound designers Larry Jost, Ken Dufva, Les Fresholtz, Michael Minkler, Arthur Piantadosi, and Sam F. Shaw makes Arkin's hollers scream and Falk's pistol pop. Costume designer John A. Anderson came up with plenty of neat fitted suits for all the guys and a nice wedding dress for Arkin's daughter. In short, The In-Laws is outrageous and hilarious all these years after its release. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/08/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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