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This week Why Him? — a movie starring Bryan Cranston as an overprotective dad and James Franco as the man who dares to have consensual sex with Cranston's adult daughter — opens in theaters.
Whether or not the film will be a box office success is still unclear. But one thing is for sure: It will definitely be entered into the canon of awkward in-law-meetings in popular entertainment. The flick seems to focus on the unsettling common narrative of a father hell bent on controlling his daughter's romantic prospects.
But the tension of the "meeting the parents" has been captured from all angles and perspectives in many modern movies. There's the daughter desperate to shield her significant other from her quirky family, like in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Or the parent who tries to sabotage the union, like in Monster-in-Law. Sometimes the whole family gangs up on the poor significant other, like in the holiday film The Family Stone.
We've pulled together some of the most cringe-inducing instances of this trope onscreen and sought out the most awkward of these cinematic moments. Hopefully, you don't have to deal with anything quite so uncomfortable when it comes to introducing your family to your S.O. IRL. But in the event that you do: Consider these films a cocoon of solidarity. Good luck out there, you guys.
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