AT THE MOVIES WITH KASEY BUTCHER
Since its opening on December 22, Meet the Fockers has broken three records. The film now holds the records for largest New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day and Christmas Day grossing. In spite of all the money it has taken in and how much press it has gotten, I just did not find Meet the Fockers all that funny.
The movie stars Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Barbra Streisand, and Dustin Hoffman in a sequel to the 2000 hit Meet the Parents. Gaylord “Greg” Focker (Stiller) has met his fiancé, Pam Byrnes’s (Teri Polo), parents and she has met his, but before they set the date for their wedding it is time for the families to meet each other. With Pam’s dad, Jack (De Niro), still on the lookout to find some reason for Pam not to marry Greg, Greg is extremely nervous about how Pam’s parents will get along with him. His father, Bernie (Hoffman), is a former lawyer turned stay-at-home dad. His mother, Roz (Streisand), is a sex therapist who specializes in senior sexuality. His parents lean slightly toward the tree-hugger, affectionate hippie side so the ultra-conservative Byrnes are slightly uncomfortable around them. When Greg and Pam find out that they are going to have a baby, the already sticky situation gets even messier.
Pretty much, I saw Meet the Parents so I did not need to see Meet the Fockers. So many of the jokes are recycled that there is no freshness to the movie. Even the few new sources of comedy, mainly the Fockers, are used over and over again so frequently that they become dull after the first half of the movie.
The movie is mildly entertaining all the way through. Some of the jokes actually are funny. The performances by Stiller, Hoffman, and Streisand are lovably silly, but they cannot save the staleness of the humor.
Perhaps the best part of the movie is the bit part played by a baby, the Byrnes’s grandson, who Jack is teaching to speak sign language and who Greg accidentally teaches a profane first word. The major difference between the Fockers and the Byrnes becomes very clear through a funny difference in attitude toward little Jack.
Despite all the hype and success of Meet the Fockers, I really did not enjoy this movie. It had its funny moments, but overall it failed to impress. It lacked freshness and originality, and really, there are only so many jokes you can make about sex in a two-hour movie. Meet the Fockers uses them all…twice. If, somehow, the reader has defied the box office odds and has not seen this move yet, I would suggest waiting until it comes out on video. The popcorn will be a lot cheaper.
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