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Reel Toronto: The In-Laws
Toronto’s extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn’t always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city.
Hey remember The In-Laws? Sure you do! But you’re probably thinking of that near-classic comedy from the late ’70s with Alan Arkin and Peter Falk. We were talking about the 2003 remake they shot here, with Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks.
Still not ringing a bell? That’s funny because even having decided to do a remake, the producers were going to call it ‘Til Death Do Us Part before going back to The In-Laws, no doubt hoping people would think it was some kind of franchise reboot…like Batman Begins, perhaps.
Either way, they knew that even if they were going to set it in Chicago, the level of mediocrity required some time north of the border. So, they shot here for nearly three months and spent all of one week in Chicago. And that’s how we make our bread.
If you don’t know the deal, it’s that Douglas and Brooks find out that their kids are getting married and while Brooks is a nebbishy doctor, Douglas is a super-spy. Hijinks ensue.
Actually, we have to give them some credit. Not for making a good movie, mind you, but for making something that (mostly) doesn’t look like it was filmed on the cheap here.
For example, the movie opens with these lovely shots of “Prague.” But despite the blue European sheen, that handsome bridge and church are actually in Cambridge.
So is this great-looking stone building, is actually the Southworks Outlet Mall, a refurbished foundry.
Then there’s this big chase scene at the airport which is merely Hamilton’s aviation hub.
Also out of town is this lovely mansion, somewhere up in the Kawarthas.
Then they get to the Windy City, or at least our approximation of it. Douglas goes to visit Brooks at his hospital, which, from the oustide, looks exactly like Sick Kids, and this stretch of Elizabeth Street in particular.
Some government types pursuing Douglas pull up on the street and you can see the bus terminal off in the distance in this reverse angle.
And, hey, they used the inside, too.
In this shot of the atrium you can see the EnWave building out the window.
One thing Toronto shares with Chicago is an affinity for Mies Van Der Rohe, though they kick our asses in terms of sheer number of buildings. So, it seems appropriate that a big actiony scene takes place outside the architect’s TD Centre.
The camera backs up a bit, to take in the whole York-Wellington intersection…
…and then they take a little US Post truck down Wellington Street. Comedy and action—what more could you want?
They filmed an extensive sequence at the lovely Signature Room, at the top of Chicago’s John Hancock tower. But when the bad guys pour into the lobby, it’s back to the TD Centre.
The finale takes place at the wedding, at a posh Chicago lakeshore club. That’s what you see for the front shots, but everything else was done here (Lake Ontario, represent!), in and around the Boulevard Club.
Also fascinating: the film was known as What a Wedding in parts of Europe and Save the World in Japan. By fascinating, of course, we mean “about as uninteresting as the movie itself.”