Day 4: Uncomfortable Moment – MEET THE PARENTS

[Sandeep Gupta]

This movie could be called “Uncomfortable Moments,” and also live up to its title and initials.

I couldn’t locate exactly where in the movie¹ this scene was placed, so I will use everything I can put together to answer this one.

¹Where is the screenplay for this one y’all!? We need to see what it takes to onboard De Niro and Danner.

The discomfort machine starts pretty quickly. GREG is arriving at the residence of a former (is there such a thing?) CIA field officer, so of course his luggage wouldn’t make it there until he has been cleared by JACK. And Greg doesn’t know jack.

He has to win Jack’s approval, miscalculates his prep, arrives not knowing how to say grace in a Christian household, makes an inappropriate comment about the vase and then points the champaign cork in that direction, in order to get out of the awkward moment. Jack’s a good guy or Greg would have been shot by now. However genuine PAM finds him, he starts a tale of milking a cat which everyone with common sense or one who even ever watched a cat feed, sees through. There is a pot pipe in one of the wedding jackets, the almost perfect (even if a bit of a fanatic) KEVIN, Pam’s former boyfriend is in the picture. Greg smashes DEBBIE’s nose in the pool polo, and not entirely on purpose but carelessly sets up a gutter fire trying to be accountable for the cat and ends up burning big chunk of the home, clogs the sceptic tank, ruining the wedding whose alter he has already burnt! Of course, he then gets detained until Jack shows up. Few scenes after reliving the childhood and lifelong trauma of being named what his parents named him.

I have to say my ( : review : ) from decades ago stands. It would have been a more wonderful a movie without hurting Debbie and sceptic spill.

GREG arrives in a weak position. Dramatic conflict starts as he wants, perhaps presumes the family’s approval and he almost perfectly loves PAM, although I have to say she loves him way more than he does by how much he seemed to have cared about preparing for visiting her family. Without her commitment we wouldn’t have this movie. Either way, to top it all he is deeply suspicious of the CIA, jumped to wrong conclusions, snuck into the wrong room as if being a klutz wasn’t enough and then Jack chooses to question on drug use and DINA’s pot roast while he is wired to the Marston machine, just to bust his chops.

My traits-labeling game is generally weak, I seem to get the sense of characters otherwise. But in this one, the contrast between Greg-Jack drives the drama — klutz-savvy, controlled-clueless, suspicious-“suspicious but willing to look deeper,” and “fish out of water” to “powerfully resourceful.” And I am just guessing, I feel without Dina’s completely different in a better way personality to Jack’s top of the chain alpha traits, this ensemble would have been too chaotic a drama to be palatable.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by  Sandeep Gupta. Reason: dropped the html tags that came to visit this somehow

[Paul McGregor]

Hello Sandeep, I’m glad to see that you, Deb and Patricia have been able to access Week 4 classes.

Whenever I have tried, I keep getting the message that Week 4, Day 1 will become available on June 30th., July 2nd…. I just hope they mean 2023!

I’ve been sending requests for the problem to be resolved, but it’s radio silence from Customer Service. You could say it is a “Very Uncomfortable Moment.” That’s why you have seen no postings from me this week.

Anyway, you won’t be around when I get to do Day 1-5 of Week 4, so I just want to wish you every success with your script and it’s been fun exchanging ideas.

All the best,

Paul

[Sandeep Gupta]

hi Paul, thank you so much, and i feel badly you are locked out for quite a bit. double checking, were you able to send a message to support @ screenwritingu dot com? i think the zendesk form isn’t reaching them.

quick question — any of you all got access to Week 3 Audio? I didn’t see that page.

by the way, i am not going away anywhere — hopefully — hopefully i will have some scene review opportunities with some of you, maybe easier if we have messaging work. i am certain we have lifetime access to this course, and i always subscribe to the topic once i post my answer. so if any of you post, i will get to it. i actually look forward to it, and now that the classes are “done” i hope to spend more time with everyone’s answers.

[Paul McGregor]

Thanks for that, Sandeep. I have just checked and am still locked out until the promised date of 30th June. Yes, I have sent several emails to support@screenwritingu.com Still no response.

Anyway, I will also try to catch up with the forums and send you any feedback I think relevant. All the best as you go forward. Cheers!

[Trish Carothers]

Hi Paul…sorry to hear about your continued difficulties. I will contact Customer Service on your behalf right now. How you see some difference ASAP.

[Trish Carothers]

HERE is what I sent to Customer Servicer on your behalf. Hope it makes a difference. Hey guys… Paul McGregor in our current CHARACTERS class cannot access the class materials to finish the class on time with us. He says that he has contacted you about this class several times. I am contacting you because I had this same problem earlier, when the instructors went on vacation?? Anyway, Paul’s classes need to be reinstated for the current class period, which is now. Please see to this problem, not only for Paul, but also for the rest of us who value Paul’s comments and insights. Thanking you now cause I know how awesome you have all been.Paul, just now sent a message to C.Service on your behalf. Hope it makes a difference

[Deb Johnson]

What I learned:

We feel sorry for Greg, even though he walked right into it. This is his past and his future when he proposed to Pam. It’s all about winning Jack’s approval and Jack refusing to give it to him.

This is a comedy, and the premise is – how many ways can we humiliate Greg?

These are ‘right characters.’ If Greg had a little more confidence and Jack wasn’t such a jerk, this script would never have worked. Jack was made to torture Greg – they are perfectly matched.

The drama the scene was built on was perfect. We are in Jack’s basement “lair” – and the way he’s framed in the brick doorway almost makes it look like some sort of torture chamber. It appears that Greg is sneaking around at night and Jack catches him. This makes for a very uncomfortable situation.

[Trish Carothers]

I didn’t really like this movie. It wasn’t funny. A testosterone dump on Greg by nearly everyone in the family and Kevin, including his fiance…a complete spineless loser “Daddy’s Girl.” Greg should have dumped her and driven away very fast. Not that he’s a gem…he’s a convenience liar, just trying to impress the parents and his fiance, to be included which many people can relate to, even to the point of verbally, emotionally, and spiritually beating Up Greg. Not planning to use this in a rewrite..

[Karyn Laitis]

Week 4, Day 4–Uncomfortable Moment–Meet The Parents

We’ve all had them–uncomfortable moments. This is a classic–the boyfriend (fiancee) meets the girls parents for the first time. Any daughter knows how anxious her boyfriend is at the thought of living up to an unattainable standard that the girl’s parents have set. The scene here is Greg, a successful person of character, is put under a microscope. And the daughter has some “father” issues and high expectations of Greg. The awkwardness of Greg is palpable as he finds himself in an office filled with questionable equipment circa the “McCarthy Era” of interrogation. As he is busted by Jack, the discomfort meter rises. In his vulnerable state-he doesn’t want to offend anyone. Jack, being a perceptive Dad, decides to play with him–ergo, polygraph. This is not a scenario Greg can escape. He does his best to discredit the accuracy of the device, while Jack watches him squirm. The first questions are innocuous, then getting to the “truth” about the meal and watching porn escalated the level of “truth” that Greg was willing to offer. Greg was guilty, whether he told the truth or lied. And that is uncomfortable! It also puts him in a weak position.

Jack is a master manipulator and his intent is to not lose his status with his daughter. Jack is threatened by Greg, so however he can discredit him will cause his daughter to question her choice in a partner.

The more Greg is demeaned, the greater the drama created since he is defending his manhood with Jack and protecting his relationship with Jack’s daughter

The characters fit; Both Greg and Jack come from a place of concern-fear. Jack’s response is to be surreptitious and aggressively demeaning; Greg is the underdog, seeking to be liked, accepted and worthy.

Its been forever since I’ve seen this movie-I recall the amount of angst that Greg felt which was a little exaggerated and over the top. But that makes for good comedy.

[Lawrence Fraly]

Karyn, I love this comedy, probably because I’ve been in similar situation to Greg, which many suitors probably have. What works for me is that Greg and Jack are so extremely different from each other, it seems like the movie might have been written specifically for Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller.

[Lawrence Fraly]

Week 4 Day 4 Uncomfortable Moments MEET THE FAMILY

FIRST WATCH

How many ways is this character made uncomfortable?

1) Jack catches Greg looking through Jack’s things in Jack’s basement

2) Jack asks Greg if he’s looking for something, which could imply that Greg’s looking to get the dirt on Jack or at least that Greg is where he’s not wanted, or at least doesn’t belong

3) Jack then asks if Greg is looking at “that” (something specific). This sounds like Jack suspects Greg of spying on him or getting ready to steal something.

4) Jack asks Greg to try out the polygraph machine, asks him what he’s afraid of, bringing Greg’s anxiety out into the open (elephant in the room).

5) Jack ties Greg up (to the machine) with all kinds of straps and clips and who knows what all

6) Jack says the machine can tell if someone’s lying.

7) only yes or no answers, without being allowed to explain his answers

8) Jack tells Greg no peeking at the machine’s read out

9) Two questions that are automatic easy “yes”, followed immediately by an awkward ambiguous question which would implicate Greg of being dissatisfied with the cooking, which Greg is not dissatisfied, but the food was a little on the rare side for his taste

10) The needles are jumping wildly with Greg’s answer about the food and/or his anxiety about the question

11) Jack cuts into Greg’s most intimate privacy by asking if he watches porn.

12) Scene cuts away to Greg alone, in his pajamas in what looks like a bedroom, chewing Nicorette gum because he’s not allowed to smoke in the house

Weak position: Greg is already on Jack’s turf, in his house, in his basement, tied up to Jack’s machine to which he has to answers Jack’s questions without being allowed to ask any himself.

SECOND WATCH

Drama scene built around Jack is testing Greg to see if Greg is worthy of marrying Jack’s daughter.

Profile Greg is a private person, tending towards making light of any situation, passive by nature. Greg has many secrets. You can tell by his anxiety at being tested by a lie detector machine.

Jack is domineering, seemingly without any sense of privacy. His vulnerability is his daughter. Jack can read between the lines. He’s a predatory alpha male. Greg is easy prey.

Breakthrough about these characters being great from a writer’s p.o.v. Their traits are almost diametrically opposed, except that they’re both worried about their relationship with Jack’s daughter. Every event is unpredictable. This unpredictability is not unlike the Cohn Brother’s coin toss scene.

For my own writing I’m adding more anxiety situations where my protagonist demands answers from others about her, not about themselves.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by  Lawrence Fraly.

[J.R Riddle]

This was a fun movie to watch for his diametrically opposing characters. We believe Greg is an up and up honest, great guy who loves his lady. However when put in uncomfortable situations, he lies and lies to get out of the problem, created by him alone. How can she, the princess-daughter trust a man who covers up everything to look good. Greg is weak and insecure – who wants a guy like this? She does, because her role-model Dad is manipulating, also evasive and wants to control everything. Greg looks like an easy-going dumb-dumb, easily manipulated by her, her father, friends and the family.

Drama is around deceit. In this scene, Greg is snooping and is caught with his hand already in the lie detecter apparatus, so to speak. Jack loves this. Jack can’t wait to get the goods/forcefully snooping on Greg with his lie device. Both want the best for princess, but both go about it the wrong way, and that makes for comedic, uncomfortable moments throughout.

I learned to create more of these uncomfortable moments, fingers in the pie/lie detector, in my screenplay – as I have very few if any. Great way to create anxiety, comic relief or fear and intimidation.