The In-Laws

Serpentine, Shelly!

Director: Arthur Hiller

Starring: Alan Arkin, Peter Falk

The In-Laws was a different kind of comedy than I was expecting. I didn’t really know either of the main actors, but I became to love both of their performances in the end. While his daughter is about to get married, Sheldon Kornpett (Alan Arkin) meets Vince Ricardo (Peter Falk), the father of the groom. The story follows Sheldon while Vince gets him involved in a major federal crime while claiming to be apart of the CIA.

Differing from the the other comedy I watched, Diner, the story is plain and simple and flows along really nicely. Vince tells Sheldon he’s a member of the CIA and drags him into his very convoluted plan of robbing the United States Treasury to prevent someone else from doing it and destroying the money system in America. Sheldon, an honest dentist out of Manhattan, doesn’t want anything to do with it, but ends up being forced to help Vince.

The comedy in this movie is overall great, but it has some stand out moments. One of my favorite parts of the film is when a Chinese pilot is explaining the rules of the aircraft to a shocked Sheldon who just nods along as if he understands. You’ll leave the film with a few good laughs, that’s for sure.

My favorite part about the film are the two characters and how they work together, or the lack there of. Vince has to convince Sheldon that what he’s doing is safe, which is clearly isn’t. Yet, Sheldon will believe basically anything Vince says. In short, he trusts him when he really has no reason to and probably shouldn’t. I mean, when you meet a guy and within a few hours you’re part of a federal crime, it really should be obvious he’s a person not to be trusted.

The film’s story is actually laid out pretty simply. Successful New Yorker is united with a federal criminal, partners with him to “save the world”, almost dies (a few times), saves him when he’s in trouble, become best friends before they’re supposed death, gets saved at the last second and returns to his daughters wedding the next day with $5 million. See, easy right?

It’s hard to determine what a comedic film communicates other than just to make people laugh. Situations and behaviors that are insane to us, but more than normal in the film’s world is comedic to the audience which is why this film is so popular.

This film was remade in 2003, but don’t even bother watching it. It’s awful and doesn’t do the original any justice. This movie couldn’t have been successful without the outstanding performances of both Peter Falk and Alan Arkin. They both played their character really well and it’s honestly what made the movie for me.

Overall, the film was funny and a great watch. There were plenty of moments where I was crying from laughing so hard. The comedy is definitely of the insane and unrealistic type. So, if you like movies with interesting characters in unlikely situations, this film is for you.

A note from my dad:

This was made in 1979 starring Peter Falk and Alan Arkin, directed by Arthur Hiller. Arthur Hiller directed a well known rather mawkish film called Love Story in 1971 but mostly make his money creating broad comedies. He directed Silver Streak prior to this film and there is another of his films that we will visit later on. Peter Falk was well known from his successful TV show Columbo which ran through the 70s and into the 80s. Alan Arkin will be known to this generation as the grandfather in Little Miss Sunshine and as the movie producer in Argo. He has had a nice career doing mostly comedy and is a very funny actor. This film pairs these 2 rather polar opposite characters as the fathers of kids just before their marriage. It’s one of those kinds of films that is very hard to describe, the plot simply takes off and has gag after gag that is priceless. There are several well known quotes from this film, this is the kind of film where one person can simply say, “serpentine” and have the other one in stitches. Look that word up if you don’t know it. This was remade a few years ago but I can’t imagine the remake being better than the original.