James Franco stars as billionaire Laird Mayhew in his latest film, Why Him? – which tells the story of the character meeting his girlfriend’s parents and struggling to build chemistry in the process.

Now the star says that meeting the parents is the most important thing once a relationship is getting serious. He assures fellow men that this helps relationships survive, especially if they get along with you.

He said: “My longer relationships, yeah, I get to know the parents. There have been parents that I like, and parents that like me, and then others that I just do not get along with. If you’re in a long-term relationship, it can be a major factor. So it’s much better when you get along.”

And Bryan Cranston – who plays the girlfriend’s father – said it’s highly important to “get the mom to like you,” as this will lead to a much smoother experience in the event things go sour in other areas.

“You need to get the mom to like you, if you’re a guy. That’s the target. Just give up on the dad, he’s not going to like you anyway,” Bryan explained.

But the 60-year-old actor – who has a grown daughter with wife Robin Dearden – doesn’t believe meeting the family is as effective as it used to be during his younger years because people “hook up on their own” much more now.

He told USA Today: “It’s different. When I was a kid I used to have to go to the house of the girl you want to take out and I’d have to meet her parents. It was, ‘Hello, nice to meet you, how are you, (we’ll) be back at 12!’ (Now) it’s like the kids all hang out together, and they’ll separate and hook up on their own.”