Word: arkins
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Falk's foil is a very withdrawn Alan Arkin. The two meet because their children are getting married. Arkin-a Manhattan dentist with suburban house and wife-isn't pleased with Falk's vague description of his line of work. "Dad is always making these mysterious phone calls," his son says. Falk gets into trouble in a big international monetary scheme, and drags Arkin into a mess of chases and narrow escapes...
...Arkin never holds up his end of the comedy, and at several points he lets it fall with a thud on the audience's feet. The screenplay calls for him to respond continuously to Falk's antics with a series of outraged quips and grimaces, but instead of playing a genuinely angry man or countering Falk's lunacy with his own, Arkin is stone-faced. At one point he literally falls into a stupor...
Despite the deadness of Arkin's performance, The In-Laws remains a funny movie throughout. This is not intellectual humor-it smacks more of Mel Brooks than Woody Allen, but has little of the former's vulgarity or the latter's self-indulgence. The best jokes center on Falk's character, and the audience remains uncertain about his qualifications-whether he's really a CIA agent or just a loon who thinks he's one-until the movie...
...Falk and Arkin are thrown together when their respective children decide to marry. The newlyweds (Penny Peyser and Michael Lembeck) are upstanding graduates of Mount Holyoke and Yale; the dads are students of Groucho and Chico. Sheldon Kornpett (Arkin) is a very nervous man who delights in being "among the first dentists in New York to use the drill that spritzes water." Vince Ricardo (Falk) claims to have dreamed up the Bay of Pigs invasion. Sheldon wonders if Vince might be nuts, but Vince has proof of his most famous exploit: an autographed portrait of J.F.K. with the inscription...
...about freeze-dried coffee or The Price Is Right. His inventive writing could not be in the hands of a better cast. Sounding a bit like the bastard son of Bugs Bunny and Humphrey Bogart, Falk delivers his wildest speeches with a cool sincerity that bespeaks true comic madness. Arkin is the wailing violin that accompanies Falk's gravel-toned bass. Together these actors form the funniest comic team since Zero Mostel met Gene Wilder in Brooks' The Producers. Not only should the in-laws reunite as soon as possible, but they should also bring Co-Star Libertini...