|
|
  
Back Shelf Beauties
|
Meet The Fockers With a sequel like this, it's easy to decide whether or not you want to buy a ticket. If you liked the first one, Meet The Parents, you are going to like Meet The Fockers. If you don't think Ben Stiller is funny and hated Meet The Parents, Spanglish is playing at the next theater over. Ben Stiller is back as Gaylord "Greg" Focker - a male nurse engaged to Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo). As we learned in Meet The Parents, Pam's father, retired CIA Agent Jack (Robert DeNiro), is a controlling, overprotective father who doesn't like Greg, but he has learned to cope for the sake of his daughter's happiness. Now that the wedding is six months away, Greg can no longer continue to delay the inevitable. It's time for Jack, his wife Dina (Blythe Danner) and Pam to meet the Focker family - Bernie "Daddy" Focker (Dustin Hoffman), and Roz "Mother" Focker. Of course, they are the total opposite of the Byrnes family, which can only lead to wackiness and uncomfortable situations for Greg. How bad can the visit between the Byrnes family and the Fockers get? Will Greg and Pam still be able to get married afterwards? Meet The Fockers made me laugh so hard for so long my stomach started to ache. Yes, the movie features some silly humor, often crossing over into bawdy and dirty territory, but it works. You were expecting a comedy of manners? As if. The script from John Hamburg and Jim Herzfeld relies on many scenarios and jokes that are familiar to anyone who saw the first movie (especially since they also wrote Meet The Parents). You can expect plenty of jokes about how the name Focker sounds like a certain dirty word, a big sports competition gone awry and Jack using his old CIA methods to find out "the truth". Of course, I enjoyed all of that and the new twist of watching Jack become a doting grandfather whose questionable methods of raising the young tike are undermined by everyone one in the movie. However, Jack's rivalry with Bernie is the best part of the film. Many people are going to Meet The Fockers anticipating a huge showing from Streisand. While she does play an important part and does a good job making us laugh at her profession as a sex therapist for seniors, Hoffman is the man who steals the show. The Academy Award winning actor shows he's willing to get just as goofy as anyone to make the movie funny, and gets plenty of opportunity to do so. Bernie the liberal hippie lawyer who tends to share too much information is a great foil for patriotic, controlling and tightly wound Jack, so DeNiro and Hoffman effortlessly run with it. Scene after scene, each one pushes the other's buttons to elicit comedic responses and escalation of the rivalry. While you know Greg couldn't truly stand up to Jack, Hoffman makes you realize Bernie is tough enough, which makes the situation and jokes funnier. Meet The Fockers runs a little long as director Jay Roach tries to squeeze every possible joke out of the story. Some weren't worth the additional time, and it felt forced towards the end. All in all, this is the funniest movie you will see during the holiday season, so go for it. 3 ½ Waffles (Out Of 4) Copyright 2004 - WaffleMovies.com
|
