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What makes a comedy work is taking a relatable subject and turning up the volume of ridiculous. In a great comedy, it does it with such rapid succession that each scene builds on the one previous, kind of like roller coaster ride of belly laughs.

Such is the case of the 2000 comedy "Meet the Parents". It takes a situation most of us find ourselves in at one point in our lives; desperate to impress someone when the stakes are high. This takes that scenario to the extreme with "Greg" Gaylord Focker (Ben Stiller) must face his potential in-laws as he prepares to pop the question to his girlfriend, Pam (Teri Polo).

To make this situation worse, imagine the father of all fathers in ex-CIA operative Jack Byrnes, played to perfection by the immensely talented Robert De Niro. It starts out bad and only gets worse.

If there's one thing Ben Stiller is good at is playing a bumbling oaf who intends well, but the more earnest his intentions, the more likely he will tangle things into an unrecognizable mess. Such is the case of Greg, who only wants to impress Jack and his wife Dina (Blythe Danner). Instead he manages to lose the beloved family cat, flood the backyard, and spike a ball into bride to be Deborah, Pam's sister. Worse, he succeeds in desecrating the ashes of Jack's revered mother - all in the space of a weekend.

It's a movie that will make you flinch because it not only races up to the line, director Jay Roach gleefully dances over it. It's an art he perfected with his Austin Powers movies, where the ridiculous masquerades as the sublime.

In "Meet the Parents", Jay opts for a less broad approach. Yet he still manages the comedy simply because almost everyone can point to a time in their life where the harder they try not to make a mistake, the more inevitable those mistakes become. As Greg continues to flounder from each painful situation, you will laugh and grimace at the same time.

Ultimately, however, it's how Ben wears his heart on his sleeve that will make you root for his happy ending. It's an irreverent homage to family and to trust, only thankfully more ridiculous - and hilarious - than we could ever want our own lives to be.

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