Movie Review

Meet the Fockers

"Meet the Parents" was a great comedy. It cemented DeNiro and Stiller as a perfect comedy team, made everybody love the name Gaylord Focker, and gave us scene after scene of hilarious situations involving milking, flushing, and polygraph machines. "Meet the Fockers" does two of those things, only sadly doesn't do the most important one. While DeNiro and Stiller, followed nicely by Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand, do a terrific job again, this movie doesn't have the memorable scenes that "Parents" had. Instead, it ends up relying more on the cast.

The plot is summarized in the title. Jack (Robert DeNiro) and Greg (Ben Stiller) have ironed out the kinks in their relationship, so now all that's left to do is meet Greg's family. Jack loads up the RV, which looks like it was purchased at a SWAT team tag sale, and hits the road to visit Focker Isle in Florida. As you might expect, lifestyles are going to clash as the uptight and distrusting Jack is integrated with the hippie couple that is Bernie (Dustin Hoffman) and Roz Focker (Barbara Streisand). Bernie was once a lawyer who quit to be a stay at home dad for Greg, and Roz is a sex therapist for senior couples. They?re heavily sexual, hate the CIA, for which Jack was once a part of, and hate the killing of animals, which Jack took Greg to do.

"Meet the Fockers" sets itself up as a comedy about the blending of conservatives and liberals, but it sadly never goes down that road. This movie is more concerned with just being a light and airy comedy, mainly just discussing topics like sex and body parts. It's easy humor and never really leads to any laugh out loud scenes. It makes attempts, like the introduction of Greg's foreskin and a scene in which Roz massages Jack, but the former is just disgusting and the latter only brings about slight giggles.

This is a movie that needs serious help from its cast and what they achieve is both genial and amusing. DeNiro and Stiller are still a perfect match, the intimidator and the son-in-law who is so eager to please. DeNiro can get a laugh with just one stern glance and Stiller gives a goofy but sympathetic performance that makes you root for Greg. The two have built an appealing relationship based on fear and powerlessness, and that comes over nicely from the last film. Hoffman and Streisand have a lot of fun as well, creating a free spirited couple with likable quirks. The four of them do a nice job of taking throwaway stuff and making it work, leaving you to ask later on: What the heck was I laughing at?

"Fockers" is nowhere near as fresh as the original, but if you?re undemanding and looking for a few cheap laughs, this is the movie for you. If you loved these characters from the first film, chances are you?re going to love them again here. With a cast like this, you definitely should.

Craig's Grade: B-

A	10.9%
B	41.8%
C	31.8%
D	15.3%
F	0.3%