Meet the Fockers

After convincing his fiancée's parents to allow them to marry, Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) now has to deal with what happens when her ex-CIA father Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) meets his own wacky ex-hippy parents, played by Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand.

I really wanted to see this film when it was first announced. The original was very funny and it had a great repeat value. However, the reviews started coming in and they were all negative so I was a little discouraged. I still went to see it and it turned out to be very funny. The critics really need to lighten up since they turned away a fine comedy. Sure, some of the gags are old and tired but they still work. They use a lot of "Focker" jokes and of male nurse jokes sob that kind of got annoying but it wasn't an overload either. The story is pretty much the same as the first one except now Greg's parents are thrown into the mix and nothing ever goes right. The writers came up with a bunch of different, funny situations and some of them were recycled while others were new.

The cast is great and they help move the film along nicely. The best was clearly Dustin Hoffman as Greg's dad. He was hilarious and fun to watch on screen. Ben Stiller was okay but his uptight character role is kind of getting annoying. Robert De Niro also gives a funny performance and he is now forgiven for appearing in Godsend. Barbara Streisand was surprisingly funny and bearable. I usually cannot stand her but she was alright in the movie. Blythe Danner gives a decent performance, nothing really special. Teri Polo was the only miscast in the movie. She just didn't fit or look well next to Hoffman, Stiller and De Niro. Owen Wilson makes a cameo and it was decent, a little unnecessary though.

Jay Roach directs and he does a good job with the movie though it was a little too long. 115 minutes is kind of long for a comedy and because of the long running time, the film starts to bore around the end. They should have taken some things out to keep the film shorter and interesting. I also didn't like the character little Jack. He was the grandson of Jack (De Niro) and he was very annoying. The addition of the baby character was unnecessary and it kind of brought the film down. Compared to the original, the first one is funnier and more enjoyable. The second one is still pretty funny but it doesn't have a good repeat value. However, the film is still worth checking out in theaters. In the end, please ignore the critics and check this film out in theaters. Rating 7/10

In this very hilarious sequel, Gaylord Myron Focker (Ben Stiller), his pregnant fiancée Pamela Byrnes (Teri Polo), his future father-in-law and retired CIA agent Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) and his future mother-in-law Dina Byrnes (Blythe Danner) travel to Florida to visit Greg's parents, Bernie Focker (Dustin Hoffman) and the sex-therapist Roz Focker (Barbra Streisand). The dispute between the "Focker-ized" and very "Zen" family and the rigid and paranoid Jack Byrnes made me burst in a "non-stop laughing" mode not only along the movie, but also after, recalling the funny scenes and gags. The talent of Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro as comedians is very well-known by the audiences, but Dustin Hoffman surprised me how funny he is. Barbra Streisand is also excellent, and the jokes with the English word "Focker" are great. For my surprise, there are IMDb users that hated this movie, probably bitter people without sense of humor that unfortunately we stumble in our lives. If the reader of my simple review wants to laugh, see this movie. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Entrando Numa Fria Maior Ainda" (a slang, that means "Getting into a Bigger Trouble")

Meet the Fockers is not quite as good as its predecessor, but it is still very enjoyable with some brilliant cast additions that make for great comedy.

Everything that was brilliant about the style of Meet the Parents is replicated in this sequel to great effect. Ben Stiller and De Niro are on fine form as expected, and the addition of Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand is inspired. They were so fantastic and their characters so well written.

The plot is fun, although it feels slightly less fresh than Meet the Parent. This is my only real criticism. Some plot elements felt a bit repetitive of the first film. I mean there's only so much that can go wrong for this poor guy right?

Overall a very solid and enjoyable comedy sequel. A worthy successor to Meet the Parents.

"Meet the Fockers" sounds like "Meet the f-u-u-…". Oops! Can't say that because of FCC guidelines. Just the same, the title pretty much describes the level of the humor in this Ben Stiller comedy. But that's redundant because it IS a Ben Stiller movie. Clearly my expectations for this movie were not high and, maybe because of that, I found "Meet the Fockers" quite funny.

Don't get me wrong. This is not a movie for everyone. First off, the writers did not miss a single opportunity to play off of the name "Focker". It's silly and gets a little old but it somehow works with the other repetitious low-down gags.

Focker is the family name for Greg (Focker), Ben Stiller. The funniest Fockers, however, (now I'm doing it) are Greg's parents Bernie and Roz, a loose and liberal Florida hippy couple still living in the last century and enjoying every minute of it. Dustin Hoffman, as Bernie displays a previously unrevealed talent for over the top comedy. Fitting perfectly with Hoffman's Bernie, is Barbra Streisand as Roz Focker, reminiscent of the "zaftig" Lainie Kazan. Bernie is a yesteryear lawyer who has not practiced since who knows when. Roz is the main breadwinner from her business as a sex therapist to the elderly.

Greg is not too eager to reveal his parents' true nature to his fiancée's parents as they all come to visit to get to know one another better. Teri Polo nicely plays Greg's fiancée Pam. Robert DeNiro and Blythe Danner play her stiff and straight parents, Jack and Dina Byrnes. Oh – also add in some baby low-brow by Spencer and Bradley Pickeren, two adorable twins playing Little Jack.

So, go low, go loose -- or don't go at all -- but if you like Ben Stiller, go see "Meet the Fockers". Dustin's antics will crack you up and you'll enjoy Barbra back on the big screen after so long. Rated a B+.

I beg to disagree with most of the critics on this one. I actually liked this movie a little better than 'Meet the Parents', and it is very rare for me to prefer a sequel to the original. There was some good acting in this movie, which is no wonder given the caliber of the cast. Make no mistake, this was definitely not a masterpiece, the script could have been better and the last 20 minutes of the film are a little overdone and cheesy, but all in all a decent, entertaining movie.

One thing I found to be a little disturbing about this film is the message it sends, especially to the younger audience: 'It is wrong to be straight, to have strong principles and self-discipline (the Byrnes), whereas it is proper to have no inhibitions, no discipline, no job (somehow everybody is rich anyway) and the world is just a happy merry-go-round (the Fockers). Even coming from liberal Hollywood, this is still wrong.