FUNNY FATHERS TAKE THE CAKE.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

'THE IN-LAWS,'' a remake of the 1979 comedy starring Alan Arkin and Peter Falk, opens in what's supposed to be Prague (it's Toronto, of course) with a generic spy thriller suspense scene that seems lifted from ``Bad Company.''

It's not exactly what you expect of a movie that advertises itself with a poster featuring a wedding party. But if you've seen the original film, you know that the wedding itself, thankfully, is the least of the movie's concerns. In fact, as long as this new version stays away from the altar, it's funny and quite enjoyable, coasting as it does on the perfect and potent chemistry between stars Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks.

Douglas plays Steve Tobias, a rogue CIA agent whose job wreaks havoc with the impending marriage of his son (Ryan Reynolds). When Steve finally gets around to meeting the prospective bride's parents, he's in the middle of a complex mission, trying to keep a nuclear submarine from falling into the hands of a French smuggler (David Suchet). Juggling obligations, Steve manages to rope in the father of the bride, a fanny-pack-wearing podiatrist (Albert Brooks) who's so neurotic that he'll have an anxiety attack merely from watching an airline commercial.

Soon the good doctor finds himself not only flying (there's a great scene on what may or may not be Barbra Streisand's private jet) but crazily speeding around on all manner of transportation, meeting shady characters and pretending to be an international assassin nicknamed the ``Fat Cobra.'' (The moniker refers to a certain part of said Cobra's anatomy, which puts Brooks into some mighty uncomfortable situations with the smitten smuggler.)

Arkin and Falk made for a fine odd couple in the original, but Douglas and Brooks do them one better here. By ratcheting up the level of Douglas' jet-setting spy capers, this ``In-Laws'' puts its title pair into a series of increasingly high-stress, friction-producing situations that the actors then masterfully milk.

Douglas turns in a particularly forceful comic turn; he hasn't been this much fun in years. Together they bring to mind the way Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin elevated the routine ``Midnight Run'' into an artful comedy. Great stars can do that.

``The In-Laws'' flags a bit in the home stretch - and whenever the filmmakers make the occasional stab at fleshing out the relationship between the bride (Lindsay Sloane) and groom. Candice Bergen shows up, again expertly playing the mother of the groom. And director Andrew Fleming (``Dick'') makes good use of popular music, employing Paul McCartney's ``Live and Let Die'' in a nod toward the film's faux-007 aspects and actually using B.J. Thomas' ``Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head'' in a way that comments on the action.

Baby boomers, the film's primary intended audience, will lap up the nostalgic musical cues, but ``The In-Laws'' is funny enough to transcend any age barriers. It's self-knowingly silly and has the sense to soft-pedal its pro-family message so it never turns sappy. Give Fleming and screenwriters Nat Mauldin and Ed Solomon credit. Maybe they didn't improve on the original, but they didn't ruin it, either.

THE IN-LAWS - Three stars

(PG-13: suggestive humor, language, some drug references, action violence)

Starring: Michael Douglas, Albert Brooks.

Director: Andrew Fleming.

Running time: 1 hr. 38 min.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks have a good time remaking the 1979 comedy - and the feeling is contagious.

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Albert Brooks, left, and Michael Douglas strike just the right comedic tone in a remake of 1979's ``The In-Laws.''