Meet the Fockers (2004)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Jay Roach

Writers (WGA):

Greg Glienna (characters) &
Mary Ruth Clarke (characters) ...

Release Date:

22 December 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

And you thought your parents were embarrassing.

Plot:

All hell breaks loose when the Byrnes family meets the Focker family for the first time.

Plot Keywords:

Nurse | Wedding | Phallus | Unwed Pregnancy | Sign Language

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Robert De Niro	...	Jack Byrnes
Ben Stiller	...	Greg Focker
Dustin Hoffman	...	Bernie Focker
Barbra Streisand	...	Rozalin Focker
Blythe Danner	...	Dina Byrnes
Teri Polo	...	Pam Byrnes
Owen Wilson	...	Kevin Rawley
Spencer Pickren	...	Little Jack 'L.J.' Byrnes
Bradley Pickren	...	Little Jack 'L.J.' Byrnes
Alanna Ubach	...	Isabel Villalobos
Ray Santiago	...	Jorge Villalobos
Tim Blake Nelson	...	Officer LeFlore
Shelley Berman	...	Judge Ira
Kali Rocha	...	Flight Attendant
Dorie Barton	...	Airline Clerk

Also Known As:

Meet the Fokkers (USA) (working title)
Meet the Parents 2 (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, language and a brief drug reference.

Runtime:

115 min | Turkey:106 min (TV version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

UK:12 (video rating) (2005) | UK:12A (original rating) | Taiwan:R-12 | Indonesia:Dewasa | Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | Germany:6 | Iceland:L | Malaysia:18SX | Malaysia:U (cut) | Venezuela:PG-13 | South Korea:15 | Sweden:Btl | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:K-11 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:12A | Netherlands:12 | Norway:7 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:NC-16 | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

James Brolin was originally approached for the role of Bernie but turned it down. When director Jay Roach went to approach Dustin Hoffman for the role, Hoffman was talking non-stop and even out of the point which made him the instant choice for Bernie.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Jack gets the massage from Roz, he heads to his camper. After straightening out his back he starts buttoning his shirt as he walks. In the next shot, his shirt is completely buttoned and neatly tucked in his pants. The was no time for him to do all this in the time he was walking.

Quotes:

Greg Focker: [high on Truth Serum, giving a speech] Hello everybody. I am, uh, about to set sail on my ship... on the sea of life with my first mate - the beautiful Pamela Byrnes.
Pam Byrnes: Love you, baby!
[blows kiss]
Greg Focker: [drunkenly blows back kiss, pauses] I still masturbate to Pam. What? She's hot - check out those boobs. I just wanna lather 'em up with soap and rub my face in 'em. I could take a vacation in there. What? Gosh, sorry you're perfect! And there's another wonderful lady in the audience, my future mother-in-law Dina Byrnes! Dina-Dina-Bo-Bina-I-love-Dina! Byrnes! You know they say you can tell from looking at the mother what your wife will look like in the future - well, I'm looking, and I'm LIKIN...
[Spies Jorge]
Greg Focker: In my first... passionate sexual awakening, I made sweet sweet love to my housekeeper, Isabelle.
Pam Byrnes: Come on, honey, that was in the past, so sit down.
Greg Focker: No no no, baby - I gotta get this off my chest.
Pam Byrnes: Please... sit.
Greg Focker: We conceived a child. Come on up here, Jorge! This is the fruit of my loins. Come on - search your heart, you know it to be true. Yo soy tu papa! Yeah, I know, a lot of information to take in. Give that boy a hand. Oh, and Jack - Pam's pregnant. Focker out.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Wild Wild West (1999)

Soundtrack:

Crazy 'Bout My Baby

An extension of the original film done bigger but to lesser effect

Firmly part of the circle of trust, Greg Focker is planning his marriage to Dina and has put off a big family get together for as long as he can. With no further excuses, Greg and Dina join Pam and Jack as they take their RV down to Florida to meet the Focker family. With an eye very much on his bloodline, Jack is keen to judge his future son-in-law by his parents, which spells problems when he finds himself living with two very liberal and touchy-feely Fockers.

I'm in my thirties now and it probably is not very impressive that I can put words together in a basic sentence. Whereas for a two year old it might be a real surprise if they were to discuss their opinions on political matters as such with you. What is the difference? Well it is simply one of expectation. Coming to the subject of films, expectation can often make or break a film, with perhaps a poor Pauly Shore movie being better received by viewers than a poor Spielberg film partly because you expect that standard from the former but more from the latter. So it does help this film that with the very title you are informed that you are not about to witness the sharpest of comedies.

With this in mind I went in with a forgiving eye, just hoping for laughs but I was not really prepared for how most of the film is unimaginative and base. In the first film we had Greg contrast with stern father Jack and hilarity ensues; here we have the same setup again but this time Greg is replaced as a device by his parents. What this means is that the film essentially aims at the same low targets as the first film and mostly hits them. To avoiding being too boorish on this subject I will admit that moments are funny and that the casting was a nice try but mostly I just found it obvious and dull. Toilet humour, a retread of the CIA stuff and so on supposedly provide the comedy while the drama is the same superficial relationship stuff as before.

The cast mostly do their best to try and lift it. Stiller mugs along well enough but the real fun (such as it is) comes from De Niro and Hoffman. The former more or less just does his stuff again but is enjoyable enough, while the latter is at least having fun with a silly character. Streisand and Polo have lesser roles but still have a bit of fun, while poor Danner is just a plot device to try and the give the film some sort of centre. Cameos from Wilson and Nelson don't add much to proceedings and don't even get me starting on the annoying Pickren twins who are not only irritating but made more irritating by the way the film overuses them, apparently in the belief that "Little Jack" is funny and/or cute when really he is neither. Roach's direction is nothing short of pedestrian – even the choice of theme music is obvious and easy.

Overall then this is a film that people who really liked the first film will enjoy. Those that just "liked" it may find that they didn't like it enough to watch it twice, which is what is happening here. The cast play it up as much as they can but really this is just an extension of the original idea done bigger but to lesser effect.