Universal Pictures
Starring: Ben Stiller, Robert DeNiro, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner
Directed by: Jay Roach
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains spoilers for this film!
Synopsis: Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) is a successful male nurse who hopes to become engaged to his beautiful girlfriend, Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo.) But first he must attend Pam’s sister’s wedding and meet Pam’s parents, including her judgemental, protective former CIA operative father Jack (Robert DeNiro.) Despite having the best intentions, Greg soon finds the hometown visit quickly spiraling completely out of control.
Cinema Cat: One of the highlights of the film is the Himalayan cat named Mr. Jinx, the pride and joy of Jack Byrnes, who has taught the cat to come when called, wave and even how to use a toilet.
Mr. Jinx is pivotal to many of the crazy happenings in this movie, but especially when Greg accidentally lets the cat go outside and then scrambles to try to retrieve him, ending up on the roof which leads to one disaster after another.
We won’t spoil all of the zany Mr. Jinx moments here; suffice it to say Mr. Jinx is a one of the most memorable cat actors in modern film history. According to various online reports, Mr. Jinx was played by several cat actors, one of whom, Jinx #4 is owned by head animal trainer Dawn Barkan who has trained many famous cat actors including Ulysses from Inside Llewyn Davis.
Purr Blurs: When Greg goes to the animal shelter to look for the missing Mr. Jinx, we see several cats in cages, including a Mr. Jinx lookalike whom Greg decides to try to pass off as the real Mr. Jinx.
Final Mewsings: If you want to impress a girl’s family, first you must impress the cat.
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