Overall Rating
 Awesome: 9.26%
Worth A Look: 25.93%
Average: 33.33%
Pretty Bad: 11.11%
Total Crap: 20.37%
7 reviews, 66 user ratings
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| Meet the Fockers |
by U.J. Lessing
"Middle Aged Jews Save a Struggling Comedy!"
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Despite a recycled plot, and two halfhearted leads, Meet the Fockers is a funny movie. The comedy is distinctive and at times laughter is unstoppable. This is extraordinary considering that the screenplay is atrocious and random, and there are plot lines that never come to fruition. How did Meet the Fockers, a film with conceptual gags the Three Stooges would have rejected, turn out to be so funny?In the original Meet the Parents, Jewish nurse Gaylord “Greg” Focker (Ben Stiller) struggles to overcome his religion, profession, and goofy name in order to make a good impression on his suspicious father-in-law Jack (Robert DeNiro), an ex CIA agent with an obsessive desire to snoop. Lots of mayhem ensues.
Now we have Meet the Fockers, where Jewish nurse Greg struggles to overcome his religion, profession, and goofy name in order to continue to make a good impression on his suspicious father-in-law, Jack. More mayhem ensues.
The actors, who have taken this ride twice, seem tired and queasy. Ben Stiller spends the movie emoting his customary angst-ridden expressions, which we’ve seen in Flirting With Disaster, Envy, Along Came Polly and There’s Something About Mary. He provides none of the smart character development he showed in Keeping the Faith. Robert DeNiro fares only a little bit better. While DeNiro’s Jack is intense and genuinely menacing, he’s still an unbelievable, one-dimensional, and psychopathic character that isn’t captivating.
So with Stiller and DeNiro being severely underused, who pulled Meet the Fockers out of the comedic gutter and into the realm of the hilarious? Who saved this movie?
The answer is simple: middle aged Jews!
Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand are perfect as Greg’s parents, Bernie and Roz Focker. Both seem to have been waiting their whole careers to do unrestrained comedy, and they step into their roles with unparalleled enthusiasm.
As Greg’s father, Hoffman is a mensch. Bernie is the type of guy who would give you the disgusting, sweaty old shirt off his back whether you wanted it or not. Hoffman energizes every scene, whether he’s practicing Capoeira (an African-Brazilian form of martial arts), making love to Streisand, or attempting to save his rat terrier from being flushed down an RV’s toilet.
Streisand also bubbles as Greg’s mother. Roz is a sex therapist for the elderly. Her extremely perceptive nature causes her to pry into other people’s emotional secrets with the tenacity of Columbo. She is always sweet and concerned, but Roz’s affection is so overwhelming that she could nurture the bark off a tree.Meet the Fockers is most successful when it is a Jewish comedy. Both Hoffman and Streisand capture the nurturing, affection and love that exist in many Jewish families, while revealing how that affection can undermine privacy and appropriateness. Their insightful performances provide the needed humor that Meet the Fockers so desperately needs.
link directly to this review at http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=11362&reviewer=396
originally posted: 12/22/04 15:42:21
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USA
22-Dec-2004 (PG-13)
DVD: 19-Apr-2005
UK
N/A
Australia
26-Dec-2004
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