It's easy to forget that Ariana Grande started her career primarily with acting because she went on to become such a major singer and music artist, but throughout her teen years, she was cast in a number of significant TV roles, particularly TV shows geared towards other teens. Her breakout role was undoubtedly as Cat Valentine in Victorious, which ran from 2010 to 2013, although she had acted in a variety of smaller roles before that. She then reprised the role in a show she co-starred in with Jennette McCurdy, Sam & Cat, which ran for just one year. From there, Grande pivoted sharply into primarily singing. Her album Yours Truly came out in 2013—the same year Victorious wrapped and Sam & Cat began—and My Everything was very close behind in 2014. Dangerous Woman, one of her biggest albums to date, came out in 2016. Currently, she has seven studio albums, although an eighth, titled Petal, will be released later this month, on July 31. It's therefore understandable that audiences have come to associate her with music, even though she never fully stepped away from acting. In fact, in 2015, amid some of her biggest albums, Grande starred in Scream Queens, and she had smaller roles in a range of other projects, including Zoolander 2 and Don't Look Up. Of course, Grande's biggest role thus far also happened just recently, with Wicked in 2024 and Wicked: For Good in 2025. Both movies were major blockbusters and proved to be incredibly popular with audiences. Now, Grande is headed back to the big screen in a brand-new movie, Focker-in-Law, joining the larger Meet the Parents franchise. When Focker-in-Law trailers revealed that Grande would be playing the potential daughter-in-law of Ben Stiller's beloved character Greg/Gaylord Focker, they were immediately met with backlash. In part, this was directed at Grande herself, whom many argued had no place in the movie. However, this seems to ignore the fact that, as mentioned, Grande began in the industry as an actress, and she has a proven record of success in that capacity. This response also likely has something to do with audiences' general grievances with Grande, ranging from her prior romantic relationships to myriad other concerns. This is yet another example of a movie being judged before it's even been released, something that has arguably become an even more pressing problem within the last several years because social media, especially apps like TikTok, tend to bolster backlash and encourage bashing movies and TV shows. This was, in fact, similar to the response when it was announced that Grande would be playing Glinda in Wicked, and then she was highly praised once viewers actually saw the movie. Beyond Grande's role, though, Focker-in-Law deserves a chance, particularly because of its history. Focker-in-Law joins the ranks of the other Meet the Parents movies, kicking off with that title in 2000, which was followed by Meet the Fockers in 2004 and Little Fockers in 2010. Therefore, for more than 25 years, these movies have been seen as beloved classics, and they've certainly earned that status. For one, Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro absolutely shine as an antagonistic father-in-law and son-in-law duo, but the humor in these movies is also so uniquely hilarious and delightfully painful (seriously, I just rewatched them and had to mute certain parts because the secondhand embarrassment actually hurt). If that 26-year legacy doesn't grant Focker-in-Law the benefit of the doubt, surely the star-studded cast should. While it's possible that Focker-in-Law could be the weakest installment in the franchise, as is true of frankly any sequel, this movie shouldn't be counted out before it's even hit theaters—and it certainly shouldn't be counted out just because Ariana Grande has been cast, especially considering she's had a long, successful acting career thus far.