Talk about a one joke movie. I simply don’t get the whole Ben Stiller thing, I really don’t. I find him kind of annoying, and boring. Yet his career and his hits continue to defy logic. In “”Meet The Fockers”” the sequel to the surprise hit “”Meet The Parents,”” the Byrne’s clan gather up their things and head off to meet their future in-laws The Fockers (played by Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand) for a weekend of fun and hilarity.
Do you want to be Fockerized? I don’t think so, of course the Fockers are a new age, aging, hippy couple. We’re never quite clear as to what Mr. Focker used to do, the film leads us to believe he was a lawyer until he quit to be a stay at home dad and his wife Mrs. Focker (Barbra Streisand) who is a sex therapist for the over 60 crowd. So of course they rub the stiff, tough, retired ex-CIA man Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) the wrong way. There’s a weird and unnecessary subplot revolving around the possibility that Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) may have fathered an illegitimate child when he was 15. Oh the hilarity, um, yeah.The directing is competent, the acting is ok, and it is good to see Barbra Streisand back on the screen. I am getting a little tired of Dustin Hoffman. He seems to be popping up in everything these days. The jokes in Focker aim for the lowest common denominator. Lots of jokes playing on the name “”focker”” (way too many), too many bathroom jokes, baby jokes, and sexual innuendo, the entire cast and crew seem to be having a great time shooting this thing, and that fun translates fairly well on screen. What’s left to say about this? If you liked the first film, then the sequel will go down fairly easy, or if you are like me and hated “”Meet The Parents,”” and don’t like Ben Stiller then there’s not much here to turn you into a Fockerized believer. Final Grade CEM Review by Michelle AlexandriaOriginally Posted 1/03/04