Meet the Fockers Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)December 20th, 2004
MEET THE FOCKERS
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2004 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
The longer MEET THE FOCKERS, Jay Roach's forced and formulaic sequel to his MEET THE PARENTS, went on, the more I was ready for its grating brand of comedy to end. Sure there are some good laughs, mainly about names -- including "little Focker," Pamela Martha Focker and Dom Focker -- but the movie is about as fresh as the recurring joke about the little dog who humps everything with a pulse. You've seen this joke before, and, no matter how many times the movie repeated it, it just did not get funny -- nor did the time the dog turns toilet bowl blue after the cat flushes it away.
The setup this time has Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo) and Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) engaged, so Greg has reluctantly agreed to take Pam and her parents, Jack and Dina (Robert De Niro and Blythe Danner), home to meet his parents, Bernie and Roz Focker (Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand). Jack is an uptight control freak and a CIA retiree, while Dina is a canonical wife. In contrast, Roz is a senior citizen sex therapist, while Bernie is "Mr. Mom." Roz and Bernie, two grown-up hippies, are horny, free spirits who like to let it all hang out and think discussion of everyone's "first time" is a terrific dinner time topic with people they've just met. In short, the Fockers and the Byrnes are like oil and water, which can never mix until the movie's ending when everybody learns to be happy and touchy-feely, just like the Fockers.
MEET THE PARENTS was hilarious. MEET THE FOCKERS is a tedious disappointment, with only a few funny moments, and a waste of time.
MEET THE FOCKERS runs a long 1:54. It is rated PG-13 for "crude and sexual humor, language and a brief drug reference" and would be acceptable for teenagers.
My son Jeffrey, age 15, gave it ***, saying he thought it was fun and really funny. His friend Dustin, also 15, didn't like the picture and gave it * 1/2, saying that it wasn't as funny as he had hoped. Both of them liked the original.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Wednesday, December 22, 2004. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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