The suburban comedy is one of the defining film genres in modern American film. Filmmakers have long since taken (or perhaps created) a fork in the road in the way of approaching these films. Some have decided to go the route of loading the film with gross-out gags and overtly sexual humor as a substitute for wit, a la American Pie. Others have attempted to use the realistic setting of the suburbs as a vehicle for pertinent social commentary a la American Beauty.

Enter Meet the Parents, a suburban comedy that does none of these.

In fact, Meet the Parents is more reminiscent of the past normal family-plus-worst case scenario-equals comedy formula used in Father of the Bride.

Director Jay Roach commendably strays (for the most part) from the gross-out faire of his previous two Austin Powers films but keeps this film light and sometimes hilarious.

However, Meet the Parents is not without its ironies. Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) is a big city dweller who visits his prospective in-laws in a small suburb. The film juxtaposes Focker’s tense, big city persona against the small town setting of the film. Meet the Parents even goes so far as to question gender roles as Focker, a nurse, is referred to as “male nurse” and is surrounded by doctors throughout the film who covertly attempt to convey their superiority. “There aren’t many men in your profession, are there?” asks Jack Byrnes (Robert DeNiro), Focker’s prospective father-in-law.

Make no mistake though, Meet the Parents is a comedic roller-coaster, driven almost solely by the awkward situations faced by Focker and continuously speeding up as these scenarios become more outrageous. The film takes the common event of “meeting the parents” and turns it into Focker’s worst nightmare.

The casting is flawless with DeNiro as the maniacally overprotective father of Pam, Focker’s love interest. DeNiro maintains as much of a tough-guy bravado as he ever had as a gangster in Goodfellas or Casino. This makes him an absolute terror as a family man.

Meet the Parents manages to play off the fears of a typical aspect of suburban life while maintaining a light comedic atmosphere through which the actors flourish. This suburban comedy is genuinely clever and does not fall back into the pack of the gross-out comedies that usually populate theaters.