Meet the Parents

The gas station owner interrupts a casual stop to tell Greg's weekend story as a cautionary tale. He begins by recounting Greg, an advertising agent from Chicago, who is driving to meet Pam's parents in Indiana. The setup frames the chaos to come as the owner invites customers to listen.

Greg arrives with Pam and meets Irv and Kay Burns for the first time. He tries to impress them with his charm and ambition, but their skepticism and the awkward family dynamics quickly surface. The weekend promises conflict from the start.

In a bid to seem suave, Greg accidentally breaks Irv's Victrola. The accident punctuates the visit with an embarrassing misstep and strains the goodwill he hopes to win. The incident foreshadows a chain of domestic disasters.

A bathroom mishap floods the scene and Greg also ruins Kay's roast, turning dinner into a gauntlet of apologies. The domestic disasters undermine his attempts to appear capable and respectful. The Burns family grows more wary of his presence.

Greg rents a film featuring Andy Griffith as a rapist and chainsaw killer, a choice that unsettles the family. Later, he nearly harms Kay with a fishing pole, escalating the sense that the weekend is spiraling out of control.

Greg is accused of marijuana being planted in his suitcase and a $50 bill vanishes from Kay's purse. The accusations deepen the mistrust between Greg and Pam's family, threatening to derail the entire visit. The tension intensifies without clear resolution.

While driving the Burns' car, Greg collides with a hit-and-run driver, adding a serious complication to the plan to leave. Later, he unintentionally drowns the Burns' dog Bingo by throwing a stick into a lake, provoking Irv's fury. The sequence marks a dramatic high point in the chaos.

Pam's ex-boyfriend Lee confronts Greg at a bar, escalating the personal stakes between Greg and Pam's circle. Meanwhile Fay, convinced Greg has Ed McMahon connections, pushes for her Star Search audition and asks for his help, fueling her insecurity and vanity.

Fay steals the starter motor from Greg's car and hides it in her bedroom, trapping Greg and Pam inside. Greg and Irv spend hours after that trying to fix the car, but the engine stubbornly won't start. The standoff deepens the family's entanglement with the couple's fate.

Greg inadvertently causes a portrait of Irv's late mother to fall onto her urn of ashes, heightening the household tension. Fay asserts that Greg entered her room the previous night, worsening Pam's suspicion. The combination pushes the family toward a breaking point.

Pam locks herself in her room as Greg contemplates leaving, and Irv pulls a trigger in a fit of fear. In the ensuing chaos, Kay and Pam are killed, and Irv dies of a heart attack, leaving Greg as the surviving figure in the reckoning. The tragedy is framed as a blur of misunderstanding and misfortune.

Back at the gas station, the owner explains that Irv accidentally killed Kay and Pam, then died of a heart attack, while Greg remains alive. The customer departing for a circus is warned about meeting his own in-laws, and a new storyteller begins a fresh tale, reinforcing the frame narrative. The film ends by looping the storytelling device back to where it started.