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Grade: B

Verdict: Surprisingly potent comedy that should keep you laughing.

Details: Starring Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller. Rated PG-13 for sexual content, drug references and profanity. One hour, 47 minutes.

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Review: On the heels of "Nurse Betty" comes nurse Greg in "Meet the Parents." But this time, he actually is a nurse.

This male Florence Nightingale, played by comedy's newest best bud, Ben Stiller, is so in love with his girl, Pam (Teri Polo), he's busting to ask her to marry him. But, first, there's this little social formality known as meeting her parents.

In this case, that means sweet mom Dina (Blythe Danner) and dear old dad Jack (Robert De Niro). And meeting him is like being a potential son-in-law and saying hello to Tony Soprano. You know, "Hi . . . very nice to meet you . . . nice house . . . is that blood on your shirt?"

Jack's no mafioso. But by the looks of things, he might not turn out to be a saint, either. There's his suspicious passing of passports with a stranger in a parking lot. How he speaks Thai into a telephone when he thinks no one's listening. His peculiar idea of what constitutes a poem.

In "Meet the Parents," an agreeable, often even fun, light comedy, Stiller and De Niro go toe-to-toe for nearly two hours. Theirs is the start of a beautiful relationship.

"What are you driving? A Ford?" Jack asks Greg after he and Pam arrive at the family home. "Interesting color. They say geniuses pick green."

As Greg blushes, Jack adds with a smile, "But you didn't pick it."

These two not only aren't going to click, they will hardly fake it.

With its breezy mixture of slapstick comedy, subtle wit and blatant puns (did we mention that Greg's last name is, well, Focker?), "Parents" approaches but doesn't have the stuff of "There's Something About Mary." You absolutely won't laugh until you cry. There's no dog (though there is a passable cat). No gross-out hair gel. No fishhook stuck in Stiller's mouth. No errant zipper.

But there are De Niro and Stiller. They're both subtle in their delivery - and wonderful. Director Jay Roach (the "Austin Powers" flicks) keeps a lid on Hollywood's recent obsession with tasteless humor, and the writers inject an unexpected twist. When De Niro's Jack unveils his latest invention - a secret Nannycam planted in the house to catch bad babysitters - you just know it'll be used in the final reel to wrap things up. It is, but not in any way you might think.

It only helps make "Parents" this fall's pleasant surprise.

— Bob Longino, Cox News Service