Overview
A dentist's life spirals into chaos as he navigates a wedding and a wild chase.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Mild
- witty
- frantic
- irreverent
- date night
- lazy sunday
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the inspired pairing of Peter Falk and Alan Arkin and Andrew Bergman’s steadily escalating, inventive farce, while a minority found its slapstick heavy-handed.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Dentist Sheldon Kornpett is repeatedly forced to respond to the manic schemes of Vince Ricardo.
Sheldon and Vince maintain contrastingly rational and frantic reactions as chases and crises intensify.
The wedding preparations expand into chases and misadventures moving from New York to Central America.
Vince claims to be a government agent while Sheldon is preoccupied with his daughter's wedding.
Films like The In-Laws, and why
The Producers
shared odd couple chemistry, escalating farce, and crime-comedy absurdity
What's Up, Doc?
shared wacky action-comedy energy, mistaken identities, and deadpan comic performances
Midnight Run
shared buddy-comedy structure, frantic capers, and collision between ordinary people and criminal chaos
Ruthless People
shared screwball escalation, criminal misunderstandings, and tightly staged comic set pieces
Movie Details
- Director
- Arthur Hiller
- Release Date
- 1979-06-15
- Runtime
- 103 min
- Rating
- 6.6 / 10 (141)
Cast
- Peter Falk
- Alan Arkin
- Richard Libertini
- Nancy Dussault
- Penny Peyser
- Arlene Golonka
- Michael Lembeck
- Paul L. Smith
- Ed Begley Jr.
- James Hong
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The In-Laws about?
- A cautious dentist is swept from wedding preparations into an outrageous international caper by his prospective son-in-law’s manic, purportedly secret-agent father.
- What is The In-Laws like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The In-Laws as brisk, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is The In-Laws violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The In-Laws as mild.
- What did critics think of The In-Laws?
- Critics broadly praised the inspired pairing of Peter Falk and Alan Arkin and Andrew Bergman’s steadily escalating, inventive farce, while a minority found its slapstick heavy-handed.
- Which films are like The In-Laws?
- Films with a similar feel include The Producers, What's Up, Doc?, Midnight Run, and Ruthless People.
- How long is The In-Laws?
- The In-Laws runs 103 minutes.
- Where can I watch The In-Laws?
- In United States, The In-Laws is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube.
