Meet the Fockers

Meet the Parents was an almost painfully funny comedy about a man who meets his fiancée's family for the first time and proceeds to embarrass himself in every way possible. In Meet the Fockers—so called because that is the man's family name—the man's own two parents enter the picture, with even more embarrassing results; but this time, despite a fairly strong start, there are times when the comedy is not that funny, just painful.

Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand play Greg Focker's hippie-esque parents

The new film also has much more crude humor than I remember the first one having. True, the first film did get a fair bit of mileage out of the fact that Greg Focker (Ben Stiller), real name Gaylord, had a surname that allowed the filmmakers to indulge in more naughty jokes of a certain sort than would normally be possible in a PG-13 film if one vowel were ever-so-slightly different—and there is plenty more of that in the sequel, too.

But whereas the earlier film was about a basically decent but rather neurotic klutz squirming under the glare of his very traditional, controlling father-in-law-to-be, the new film reveals that Greg's parents are extremely liberal and open-minded children of the '60s for whom, it seems, no subject is too private to discuss. Bernie (Dustin Hoffman) is a retired lawyer and former stay-at-home dad who greets his future in-laws with remarks about his missing testicle, and Roz (Barbra Streisand) is a sex therapist for seniors whose office is filled with suggestive paraphernalia, who quizzes Greg on his sex life, and who doesn't take too long to conclude that Greg's future parents-in-law may need a little help in the bedroom.

Blythe Danner and Robert De Niro return as Pam's parents, Jack and Dina Byrnes

Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro), the former CIA man whose daughter Pam (Teri Polo) happens to be Greg's intended, is an uptight, conservative sort and does not take too kindly to, say, the way Greg's parents openly discuss how they encouraged him to lose his virginity to their sexy Hispanic housekeeper (Alanna Ubach) when he was a teen. But Jack has a few odd quirks of his own. Jack and his wife Dina (Blythe Danner) are looking after their other daughter's infant son, and Jack, to avoid "confusing" the babe, feeds him not with a bottle, but through a prosthetic breast designed to exactly resemble that of the child's mother. Of course, when Jack proudly tells Greg to touch his invention, someone walks in.

Jack Byrnes (De Niro) doesn't look to thrilled with Bernie's (Hoffman) show of affection

Imitation cuss words, imitation nudity—as much as this film may push the envelope, it's still quite funny, and the crassness is quite tolerable, at first, because the humor is rooted in fairly believable and likable characters. As one who is in the midst of planning a wedding myself, I found it very easy to sympathize with Greg, whose nervousness around Jack is matched only by his frustration with his own folks. When Greg discovers that the Byrneses, who were expecting a simple meeting of parents, are about to be swamped by an impromptu gathering of dozens of Jewish relatives, I had to smile; my own in-laws-to-be have marveled at the sheer number of Mennonites on my side of the equation.

It is also amusing to see how the film explains Greg's neuroses by filling in his own family background. Fans of The Incredibles will be amused to hear Jack echo a much-discussed line from that film when he complains that the Focker parents are "celebrating mediocrity" by keeping Greg's ninth-place ribbons on a trophy wall. As Roz, Streisand—in her first non-directing, non-producing acting gig since 1981's All Night Long—spills secrets and peppers her lines with Yiddish slang, while Hoffman, as Bernie, creates a charmingly complex character whose '60s values express themselves in ways that can be mature and parental, even stern on occasion, but can also be immature and downright adolescent.

Greg (Ben Stiller) and Pam (Teri Polo) are the engaged couple in the middle of this mess

However, somewhere around the hour-and-a-half mark, the film begins to lose me, as the humor starts to go beyond mere embarrassment humor and into territory that some might think would be deeply psychologically scarring to the people involved. The first film's famous lie-detector scene was funny, but not too intrusive; you could easily imagine Greg and Jack going on to plan a wedding together after that experience. But in the new film, Jack goes so far as to jab a needle full of truth serum into Greg's neck—and this, in turn, is related to a subplot involving a boy who has never known who his father is. And then there is the quick, throwaway gag involving a Child Support Services worker who takes Jack's grandson away. Somehow, it isn't quite so easy to take these things in stride.

Thankfully, the film does recover a tad in the last few minutes, but by then, the damage is done. Meet the Fockers is frequently funny, but it turns a bit too cruel in the third act to be as worthy a sequel to its predecessor as it could have been.

Talk About It

1. Bernie Focker and his wife are constantly exposing embarrassing facts about their son. How much openness is a good thing? How important is it to have secrets, and to have a say in who you share them with?
   
   

1. Greg didn't tell Pam how he lost his virginity, and he rationalizes this by saying Pam had been less than forthcoming about a previous engagement. Does he have a point? Does she? When should couples tell each other about their past relationships? Should they ever hide anything from each other?
   
   
2. Greg tells Jack that the "circle of trust" isn't going to work if he cannot trust the people within it. How do you know whom you can trust? How do you know when you cannot trust a person? Is it possible to trust a person only some of the time?
   
   

The Family Corner

Meet the Fockers is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, language and a brief drug reference. There are frequent references to sexual organs and activities, including a scene of a bus's passengers flashing and mooning another vehicle, as well as statues and sculptures in Roz's office. A baby also repeatedly says a certain naughty word repeatedly, after picking it up from an adult. A wedding ceremony is performed by an "interfaith minister."

Photos © Copyright Universal Pictures

What Other Critics Are Saying

No. 1 at the box office for two straight weeks, director Jay Roach's Meet the Fockers is 2005's first smash hit. Considering the popularity of Roach's Meet the Parents, and taking into account Fockers' all-star cast (Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, Barbara Streisand, Blythe Danner, Ben Stiller, Teri Polo, and Owen Wilson), that's not a big surprise. Nonetheless, the film is faring poorly with critics.

Peter T. Chattaway (Christianity Today Movies) says it is "quite funny, and the crassness is quite tolerable, at first, because the humor is rooted in fairly believable and likable characters." But he argues that the film does not compare favorably to its predecessor. "Meet the Parents was an almost painfully funny comedy. In Meet the Fockers … there are times when the comedy is not that funny, just painful. The humor starts to go beyond mere embarrassment humor and into territory that some might think would be deeply psychologically scarring to the people involved."

Adam R. Holz (Plugged In) laments this misguided sequel. "So much talent. So much potential. So little that makes Meet the Fockers worth two hours of your time. Roach seems obsessed with juvenile gibes and pratfalls, and only offer[s] us a few moments in which we can laugh and not feel guilty. But at least it's a good-natured film about two sets of parents who love their kids and who're learning to love one another—despite their significant differences."

"Despite some brilliant casting and a decent concept this sequel … is a disappointment," says Michael Elliott (Movie Parables). "Whereas the first film was a hilarious comedy of errors … Fockers is full of obvious wordplay, sexual innuendo and crudities inserted into the script as a poor substitute for wit."

Chris Monroe (Christian Spotlight) says, "This sequel is entertaining in some new ways, but it ultimately holds to the same formula as the first. Lots of potential here, but in the end sold a bit short."

"The redeeming quality of the film is the obvious love both sets of parents have for their children," say Denny Wayman and Hal Conklin (Cinema in Focus). But they conclude that the movie "has many painful moments where the humor is based on humiliation and prejudice … [and] the message of the film is shallow in its diagnosis of the problem and its simplistic solution."

World Magazine calls it "unforgivably crude. One lazy, juvenile, and painfully unfunny sex joke after the next, [the movie] completely wastes new cast members Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand. Those naturally skeptical of this collaboration of notorious Hollywood liberals aren't far off the mark either. What little 'plot' … involves Mr. Stiller's liberal, open-minded Jewish parents loosening up his fiancée's conservative, WASP-y parents. Don't be fooled by box-office receipts—Meet the Fockers is hollow, pandering drivel."

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