In 2000, Meet The Parents hit our screens and it was a laugh riot of embarrassing situations and misunderstandings. Then came the sequel, Meet the Fockers, in which we were mildly amused by the embarrassing situations and misunderstandings. Now, ten years on, we get the second sequel and we are hardly amused by the embarrassing situations and misunderstandings.
Greg and Pam Focker are now a happy family with their twins who are on the verge of being 8. Jack, father-in-law from hell, has decided that Greg needs to prepare himself for leading the Byrnes family onwards, as he is suffering from heart problems, although Jack is still suspicious of Greg and when Greg is asked to help promote a new drug by the beautiful Andi Garcia, Jack is concerned that Greg might become more than involved with her and ruin his whole family.
I was a huge fan of the original film. It made me laugh harder than most comedies around at that time and it still does. The comedy of errors worked brilliantly, mainly because Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller had such great rapport together. Meet The Fockers was amusing but not as funny, yet by introducing Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand as Greg's parents and their overly sexual ways, took the series to another level. The trouble with Little Fockers is that there is no where else to go with the story. We know that jack doesn't like Greg and Greg will usually do something that makes him even more disliked by Jack but you cannot carry a series on that one premise.
The makers this time throw everything they have in the story, with subplots galore, none of which really work. Introducing Jessica Alba as the oh-so-no-funny Andi Garcia and making her behave like a 60s drop-out isn't funny. Having Harvey Keitel as a builder who seems to be ripping Greg off seems pointless. Even Ms Streisand's now cameo appearance with her sexual TV show, just isn't funny.
In fact, nothing in this film is funny. We get a scene in which Stiller has to inject DeNiro in the penis after he takes a new Viagra drug, only to have the 8-year-old boy enter the room, which is more creepy than cringy. Where Greg accidentally knocks over an urn of ashes in the first film, which was played out beautifully by all, this time he almost cuts off his finger while carving a turkey. Oh how we laughed as the family get covered in blood.
The ironic thing about this movie was that Dustin Hoffman wasn't suppose to be in this one, but after test audiences found it woefully unfunny, they re shot scenes with him in and these actually turn out to be the parts that do work.
If ever a film series needs to be put to bed, this is it. A shameful excuse of a comedy that makes you want to dig out the DVD of the original and watch how the series started off as being hilarious. This gag-less mess just needs to be forgotten and the otherwise talented cast need to move on with other projects that are better.
And by the way, just because the name Focker sounds like something rude, doesn't mean we have to hear the same gag over and over again. It was funny the first time, not anymore.
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