THE words ''it's not clever and it's not funny'' have never been so apt.

This time, Greg (Ben Stiller) takes his fiance (Teri Polo) and her ultra straight-laced parents (Robert De Niro and Blythe Danner) to meet his rather more liberal mum and dad (Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman).

A clash of personalities like that should have been fertile ground for some great comedy, misunderstandings and slapstick.

But the script fails at almost every turn and instead we're fed a steady diet of obvious visual jokes and not much more.

There are about two weak laughs and a half-smile in one hour and 50 minutes of this guff.

To be fair, the protagonists are on fine form, especially De Niro and Streisand, but little can salvage the half-hearted screenplay, which can't make up its mind whether it's aimed at kids or adults.

If it's for kids then it might work but if you are over the age of 14 and still get a barrel of laughs from breast jokes, then you are either a paid up member of the Carry On Fan Club or need to get out a bit.

JS