The In-Laws

Someday I'm going to get around to making a list of movies that I can't stop watching, that hold their appeal no matter how many times I've seen them. This occurs to me after watching The In-Laws (the 1979 original, not the abomination with Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks). Easily one of the funniest movies ever made, it charts the convoluted couple of days after mild mannered dentist Sheldon Kornpett (Alan Arkin) meets his opposite number, rogue CIA agent Vince Ricardo (Peter Falk). The plot is so preposterous as to defy description, involving stolen currency plates, a Latin dictator, velvet paintings, and a plan to ruin the world's economies. Presented as a series of hilarious set pieces held together by the sealing wax of a plot, each lead and at least one supporting actor get the chance to enter classic territory. After this film, all had arrived. Arkin and Falk worked together once more in 1986's Big Trouble, but the magic wasn't there. There was certainly enough on this one.

Like Pavlov's dog, just a few words can trigger an insatiable desire to see this film once again. Just in case you've forgotten ...

"Serpentine!"

"Jose Grecos del Muertos"

"OhGodOhGodOhGod!"

"The trick is not to get killed. That's really the key to the benefit program. "