1001: A FILM ODYSSEY: MEET THE PARENTS (2000), TRAFFIC (2000)

2000

Meet the Parents

I will bring you down to Chinatown!

The top comedy from 2000 may have been Meet the Parents, a comedic farce about the nightmare that comes from falling in love with a woman with an overly intimidating father-in-law. The chemistry between Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro may be the best reason to see this, but let us not forget the witty script from Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg. After all, someone had to come up with the Puff the Magic Dragon thing or the wonderful pre-dinner prayer at the first meeting with the in-laws and De Niro's mother on the mantle.

I like the sequel Meet the Fockers as well, though it has a lot more detractors. The sequel to the sequel, Little Fockers, was critically panned but it found an audience, too. I guess we've met everybody at this point as there haven't been any more additional sequels.

Traffic

Steven Soderberg won a Best Director Oscar for this film that takes on many different stories about the war on drugs. It is insightful in that we see aspects of the drug trade through the big time dealers, small time dealers, law enforcement, lawyers, politicians and even the drug czar's daughter. The film also won Oscars fro Screenplay, Editing and Supporting Actor (Benico del Toro). My favorite characters in the film were the undercover cop team played by Don Cheadle and Luis Gomez.

Should it have beaten out Gladiator for Best Picture? Maybe, but I guess the storyline may not have been to the Academy's liking for the top award.

Here are a few other films I have seen released in Y2K that didn't make the 1001 book:

Since I try to team movies up on many of these blog posts, I'll try to come up with some appropriate double features for these films that I have seen.

Best in Show
One of the best of the Christopher Guest/Eugene Levy largely improvised films of that decade.

Best in Show

What film should Best in Show go with?

How about A Dog's Life, a 1955 film from the perspective of a Bull Terrier?

It's a Dogs Life

Cast Away
Tom Hanks is stranded alone on an island after a plane crash.

Cast Away

What film should Cast Away go with?

How about Five, a 1951 film about five people stranded...on earth alone!

Five

The Cell
Jennifer Lopez movie that reminded many of Silence of the Lambs, just not as good.

The Cell

What film should The Cell go with?

Might as well watch with Silence of the Lambs with it and get it over with.

Silence of the Lambs

Chicken Run
Fun British stop motion film about a group of chickens planning an escape from their unhappy farm existence.

Chicken Run

What film should Chicken Run go with?

The Great Escape might seem like an appropriate choice, but let's go with the pro-union classic Norma Rae instead!

Norma Rae

Dr. T. and the Women
Underrated film from the Robert Altman canon.

Dr. T. and the Women

What film should Dr. T. and the Women go with?

How about another underrated Altman film, the 1988 TV movie, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial?

The Caine Mutiny Court Martial

The Emperor's New Groove
Off-beat, but funny Disney fair

The Emperor's New Groove

What film should The Emperor's New Groove go with?

I'm not sure why, but I want to team this with the 60's stop-motion monster mash, Mad Monster Party. (Mad Monster Party could also be teamed with Chicken Run).

Mad Monster Party

How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Jim Carrey is the Grinch in Ron Howard's adaptation of the Dr. Seuss classic.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

What film should How the Grinch Stole Christmas go with?

How about the 1953 Dr. Seuss creative concoction The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (Though by the title, you might be tempted to team this with Dr. T and the Women.)

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.

Miss Congeniality
Sandra Bullock goes undercover as a beauty pageant contestant.

What film should Miss Congeniality go with?

How about the Michael Ritchie's vastly underrated 1975 ode to small town beauty pageants, Smile?

Smile

Pay It Forward

Depressing movie with a good heart.

Pay It Forward

What film should Pay It Forward go with?

Since you are already in a bad mood from Pay It Forward, might as well cap it off with a Bergman classic like Winter Light. Or if you want something depressing, but not in Swedish, just pop Old Yeller in the VCR.

Winter Light

Pokemon: The Movie 2000
I sure remember taking my son to see all those strange Pokemon movies at the theater.

Pokemon: The Movie 2000

What film should Pokemon: The Movie 2000?

I also remembering at the time of my viewing that Pokemon seemed as strange in it's on way as Naked Lunch. So let's team it up with that one.

Naked Lunch

The Road to El Dorado
Jaunty Elton John songs enliven this animated epic about two con men looking for the gold of El Dorado.

What film should The Road to El Dorado?

I'll go with my first instinct and team this with Aguirre, the Wrath of God, though that one features a much less lovable protagonist.

Aguirre, the Wrath of God

Scary Movie
The first of the Wayans Brothers horror movie satires.

Scary Movie

What film should Scary Movie be teamed with?

I seem to be in the minority of liking the 1982 horror satire Student Bodies.

Student Bodies

Shadow of the Vampire
Was Max Schreck of the silent film Nosferatu actually a vampire?

Shadow of the Vampire

What film should Shadow of the Vampire be teamed with?

Watch the original Nosferatu to see the real Max Schreck in action. Spoiler: He wasn't a real vampire.

Nosferatu

Snatch
I recently did watch this 2000 British gangster film...

Snatch

And already teamed it with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, so I see no reason to change that pairing. http://1001afilmodyssey.blogspot.com/2019/03/lock-stock-and-two-smoking-barrels-1998.html

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

The Three Stooges
Not the more recent Three Stooges from 2012, but a TV movie which depicts the real life issues of the Howard, Howard and Fine comedy team.