Meet The Fockers

Dir: Jay Roach

Str: Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Barbara Streisand, Teri Polo

Initially, when I heard about this sequel a few years ago, I was kind of excited. The first film was enjoyable enough, with some true moments of ‘laugh out loud’ genius. As time moved on, I grew more and more concerned. The news of the Dustin Hoffman casting was decent enough, but Streisand concerned me. Then the trailers came, and I saw a few amusing moments, but a lot of repetition of the first film. Well, I can honestly say, with my hand on my heart, that I laughed more at Churchill: The Hollywood Years than Meet The Fockers!

Picking up a few years after events of the first film, it is rapidly approaching the wedding and is about time for the parents of both families to meet. How will the uptight Jack (De Niro) cope when he meets the relaxed, and oversexed, Focker family? No doubt hilarity will ensue, and many hijinx will occur. Well…that depends on your idea of hilarity. Here’s a quick test for you…

Focker….Focker…..Focker….Focker…..Focker!

Are you giggling like a madman? If so, this is the film for you! If not, and for some bizarre reason you don’t find the constant repetition of the first films jokes funny, then just watch the trailer. You will save yourself 1 hour 55 mins, and will have seen all the best bit (which themselves are borrowed from other comedies). The comedy of the first simply suffers from being stretched out into another film, and somehow the magic is missing. Stiller and De Niro just seem to be going through the motions, and for some reason, despite the ‘resolve the differences’ ending of the last film, the relationship between the two is still strained.

The news that a third film is being planned (Little Fockers) is distressing, to say the least, having seen what this film does with one ‘comedy child’ role! This is a film which shouldn’t have been made, and the fact it did so well in the US reflects more on the popularity of the first than the quality of this dreadful sequel! It’s like Father of the Bride 2 all over again! Dreadful!