“Meet The Parents” (2000)
Berate us if you will for only including one of De Niro’s post-2000s roles in this article, but it’s generally accepted that the man’s body of work took a considerable downturn once the new century kicked in. With his legacy firmly established through three decades-worth of unbelievable output, De Niro turned to much lighter work in the late 90s and early aughts. He mocked his own hardened gangster persona in 1999’s “Analyze This,” and turned heads (the wrong way) as the Fearless Leader in “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle,” but as far as his comedic repertoire goes: Jay Roach‘s “Meet The Parents” is right up on top (though several notches below “Midnight Run”). Proving that he wasn’t only born for dramatic roles, De Niro’s Jack Byrnes is a retired CIA agent who’s still got his investigative radar on max when he meets his daughter’s new boyfriend Greg Focker (Ben Stiller). A cat-lover with the power to scare you shitless just by talking about milking nipples, De Niro turned his iconic stare-down into a comedic weapon that helped make the film a box-office smash, spawning two (considerably more egregious) sequels in the process. As further proof of his hidden alchemic skills in creating comedy gold, he’s the brains behind the infamous polygraph scene that’s still rightly counted among the film’s classic moments, and that is still probably the onscreen highlight of De Niro in the 2000s—at least until the gentle pleasures of “Silver Linings Playbook” came along.
Honorable Mentions
With over 90 feature roles to his name, there are naturally many more we considered for this piece. Among the ones that missed the line-up by a smidgen are his Oscar-nominated roles in “The Awakenings” and, as mentioned, David O. Russell‘s “Silver Linings Playbook.” There’s more from his fantastic body of work with Scorsese to be found in “Casino” and the underrated “New York, New York.” And both his onscreen work in his directorial debut “A Bronx Tale” and his brilliant cameo in Terry Gilliam‘s “Brazil” were only excluded due to their brevity.
More films we’re fond of but didn’t quite deem essential include “Jacknife,” “Sleepers,” “Ronin,” “The Mission,” and “Wag The Dog,” but you probably have your own favorites, so why not call them out in the comments? Yes, we are talking to you… –with Nicholas Laskin and Rodrigo Perez
