The In-Laws

Directed by Arthur Hiller, The In-Laws follows Alan Arkin’s mild-mannered Sheldon Kornpett as he’s forced to participate in a series of increasingly dangerous episodes by Peter Falk’s quirky, mendacious Vince Ricardo. It’s a larger-than-life premise that’s employed to erratic yet mostly entertaining effect by Hiller, and there’s little doubt, certainly, that the movie benefits quite substantially from the engaging (and often captivating) efforts of its two stars – with, especially, Arkin’s frequently hilarious work here elevating even the most minor of sequences. (This is particularly true of the first encounter between his and Falk’s respective characters, with Arkin eliciting laughs solely through his progressively flabbergasted expressions.) It’s clear, then, that The In-Laws‘ grip on the viewer is seriously tested by a distressingly spotty midsection that hardly feels as streamlined as one might’ve preferred, as scripter Andrew Bergman peppers the narrative with a handful of somewhat ineffective interludes that wreak havoc on the movie’s forward momentum. (It is, for example, difficult to find much value in a plane ride that just seems to go on forever.) The agreeable third act, which boasts a predictably laugh-out-loud funny turn by Richard Libertini as an off-kilter dictator, ensures that the picture finishes on a decidedly positive note, however, with the end result a decent-enough comedy that’s persistently enhanced by the palpable (and irresistible) chemistry between Arkin and Falk.

*** out of ****