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Meet the Fockers
12/22/04 - PG-13 - 115m
Ben Stiller - Greg Focker
Robert De Niro - Jack Byrnes
Dustin Hoffman - Bernie Focker
Director: Jay Roach
Story by: Marc Hyman
Studio: Universal
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JEF
I was really shocked at how much I enjoyed this movie. I had heard mixed reports about the movie. Some people thought it was hysterical, and others thought it stunk. I had low expectations myself. I have seen a handful of Ben Stiller movies and lately all seem to be sub par. Plus if any of you have read some of my recent reviews where I complain about films being made with a series of big name actors and how they usually stink, this movie breaks that trend.
Storyline: Greg (Ben Stiller) and Pam (Teri Polo) are getting married (which of course was introduced to us from the first movie Meet The Parent.) Well, now comes the time when the parents of Greg and Pam must meet. Jack (Robert De Niro) is his usual uptight, anal, down-to-business self, and he’s about to be introduced to Bernie (Dustin Hoffman) who is a little more easy going, and eccentric. Throw in some new characters such as Little Jack (Spencer and Bradley Pickren – twins I assume), and Roz Focker (Barbra Streisand) and you have a good story.
Yes, this is a sequel from “Meet the Parents” from a good 4 years ago. I have not seen “Meet the Parents” since then, and remember very little about the movie. But this movie did not rely heavily on whether you saw the first movie or not. There were of course some tie ins with the previous movie, like Jinxie the cat, but not many. This was a new storyline of the clash when two totally opposite parents are “forced” to spend a week or so together.
I was just totally entertained with this movie. Maybe it’s because I set my expectations so low, maybe it’s because the crowd that we saw the movie with was also loving and laughing throughout this movie, or maybe because it was just a good movie, or all of the above. I just came out of the theatre smiling.
As I mentioned, I usually find the combination of many talented actors to be a recipe for disaster, but this cast just blended together nicely. Ben Stiller and Dustin Hoffman were a terrific team, and then throw in De Niro playing the straight man, and it was a winning combination. The women in the movie did not play as big a role I think, but helped move the story along nicely when things were getting tiresome between Bernie and Jack.
I also have to compliment “Little Jack” Who did an amazing job. I did not realize it until I looked up the credits that the role was played by twins. These kids must be little geniuses. Not only were they able to communicate their “lines” onscreen, but even subtleties like facial expressions were right on the mark. Perhaps it took 100 takes just to get one shot, but it was edited together seamlessly.
There was the perfect balance between comedy, silliness, some crude humor (but nothing too bad) and a little drama to make for an entertaining story.
I had to laugh at the casting of one of the local police officers as Cedric Yarbrough who plays a policeman on the TV show “Reno911!” on Comedy Central.
After a lousy 2004 movie year, I’m thrilled that 2005 started off with this green light (yes, I’m aware the movie technically opened in 2004).
Jef
