The In-Laws

This 1979 comedy is absolutely indispensable for fans of Peter Falk, Alan Arkin, or Andrew Bergman, who wrote the film's screenplay and went on to direct <I>The Freshman</I> and <I>Honeymoon in Vegas</I>. (Let's forgive him for <I>Striptease</I>.) Arkin is extraordinarily funny as a dentist who quickly grows skeptical about the wild claims of his daughter's future father-in-law (Peter Falk) that he is a CIA agent. When he is drawn into a bizarre adventure in a banana republic, however, he takes a different view. Arthur Hiller (<I>Love Story</I>) provides serviceable direction, but the real draw here is the perfect chemistry between the two leads and Bergman's weirdly comic mind. Watch for the look on Arkin's face when Falk's character tells a story about giant tse-tse flies. <I>--Tom Keogh</I>