The Meet the Parents movies, starring Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Blythe Danner, and Teri Polo, are streaming on Netflix as of January 1, 2025. Here’s how to enjoy them, plus a few FAQs about the franchise
It’s hard to picture these days, but there was a time when prestige comedy dominated (or at least, had a much bigger showing at) American box offices. Yes, before the age of cinematic universes, studios trusted in romantic or family comedies to bring in the big bucks, and a perfect encapsulation of that time in cinema just appeared on Netflix. We’re talking, of course, about the Meet the Parents trilogy, all three of which are on the platform as of the beginning of 2025.
Starring Ben Stiller and Teri Polo as an ordinary couple and Robert De Niro and Blythe Danner as the latter’s eccentric (government-connected) parents, the Meet the Parents movies expertly made awkward family interactions the cornerstone of their cringe comedy, particularly in the case of the charming and sensitive Greg (Stiller) opposed to the stubborn and traditionally-masculine Jack (De Niro).
In case you haven’t seen the movies already, Popverse has put together this handy Meet the Parents watch order to guide you through the guide you through the films as they’re meant to be watched. So if you’re ready to experience a movie trilogy with absolutely no superheroes in it (and with a more solid mastery of comedy than “he’s right behind me, isn’t he?”), read on.
How to watch Meet the Parents in release order
If the way you’re looking to watch through one of the most popular comedy franchises of the past 40 years, then the simplest way to do it is simply by checking the release dates next to the film and watching them in descending order. Choosing to go about exploring the Meet the Parents movies that way would look something like this:
You’ve probably noticed this list differs slightly from what you might’ve expected heading into a Meet the Parents Watch order. Particularly, the difference shows up at the very top, with a 1992 film that shares the same name as the entry below it. If you’re a film buff, you know that it’s the latter of the two that most people refer to when they talk about Meet the Parents, leading you perhaps to wonder:
Is Meet the Parents a remake?
Yep! Believe it or not, the Ben Stiller movie called Meet the Parents, which most people associate with the title, is a remake of a film made eight years before. The rights to the story, originally written by Greg Glienna and Mary Ruth Clarke, were purchased by Universal Pictures, who hired Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg to write a new screenplay. Now that we’ve covered that, we can tell you:
How to watch Meet the Parents in chronological order
Now that that’s cleared up, here’s how you can watch the Meet the Parents films in chronological order, that is the order that fits the narrative begun by the Ben Stiller/Robert De Niro movie in 2000 that continued until 2010.
- Meet the Parents (2000)
- Meet the Fockers (2004)
- Little Fockers (2010)
And then, if you want to watch the unconnected independent film:
If chronology really is more important to you than the popularity of the Stiller/De Niro films, you can watch the 1992 film first, to see where the germ of the idea started. But just don’t think it connects in any narrative way to the 2000 film that bears its name, or to the sequels to it.
Now that we’ve got that over with, here are a few of the most frequently asked questions regarding the Meet the Parents movies.
Will there be more Meet the Parents movies?
There will indeed! In December of 2024, Deadline reported that series stars Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Teri Polo and Blythe Danner were all in talks for another entry in the Meet the Parents saga. Also returning will be screenwriter John Hamburg, who has written or co-written all of the modern Meet the Parents movies since 2000. Plot and filming details are still forthcoming, and as of this writing, there is no release date.
How much money did Meet the Parents make?
According to the same Deadline article posted above, Meet the Parents grossed a whopping $330M dollars with its theatrical run. It was the seventh highest-grossing film in 2000, not surprising when you learn that, adjusted for inflation, Meet the Parents would’ve made roughly $617M in the same circumstances today. Even not factoring inflation into its earnings, the complete Meet the Parents trilogy grossed $1.13B at the global box office. For comparison, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy made roughly $2.5B at the box office around the same time period, not quite doubling Meet the Parent’s haul.
Is Meet the Parents inappropriate for kids?
Quick answer: yes. But if you want to get specific about it, here are the ratings the MPAA gave each film, along with the reasoning behind the ratings:
- Meet the Parents has been given a PG-13 rating for “sexual content, drug references and language”
- Meet the Fockers has been given a PG-13 rating for “crude and sexual humor, language and a brief drug reference”
- Little Fockers has been given a PG-13 rating for “mature sexual humor throughout, language and some drug content”
Ultimately, it’s up to parents if they want to let their own little Fockers watch the movies. Or, now that I’ve made that joke, read this article.
What does ‘muskrat’ mean in Meet the Parents?
Ah, well this is a very minor spoiler, but OK. Just know that this is a plot point that you could learn from watching the movies on your own.
Robert De Niro’s Jack Byrnes is an ex-CIA agent, as we mentioned at the top of this article. With that kind of backstory, he can be a bit… intimidating at times. “Muskrat” is a code word that his wife Dina uses to indicate when that intensity is getting a bit too much for social settings. Which is does.
A lot.
Are Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson friends?
They certainly are. As The Mirror pointed out in 2023, Wilson and Stiller have starred in 12 films together, with notable examples besides the Meet the Parents films being Zoolander, Starsky & Hutch, and the Night at the Museum flicks. Stiller has also publicly supported Wilson through hardships in his life, and WIlson has expressed his gratitude. “From when we first became friends,” Wilson told The Mirror, “walking around New York, I think that we are still sort of laughing at the same things and our dynamic is still pretty similar.”
We love to hear it.
Where can I stream Meet the Parents?
As we mentioned at the very beginning of this handy guide, the first and second films in this series (that is, Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers), are streaming on Netflix as of January 1, 2025. They join the third entry, Little Fockers, which was already streaming on the platform. However, if you’re opposed to using Netflix, (hey, you do you), you can also rent all three of the movies on Amazon Prime Video.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a place to stream the original 1992 Meet the Parents film, or for that matter, even a way to watch it. Yes, we’ve searched streaming platforms, Amazon, and even eBay in the hopes of locating a DVD or VHS copy of the original Meet the Parents, with absolutely no luck.
Perhaps the other three movies being on Netflix will lead to a copy being found and hopefully put online. In the meantime, if you know how to watch the original movie, let us know in the comments.
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