Meet the Fockers

The story carries on pretty much from where Meet The Parents left off, Greg (Stiller) and Pam (Polo) have been going out with each other for 2 years and are looking to get married, and so the time has come for the Byrnes to meet the Fockers. Greg’s dad Bernie (Hoffman) is a capowera practicing ex lawyer/hippy and his mother Roz (Streissand) is a sex therapist specialising in senior citizens. The pets of the two families provide good analogies for their differences, the Focker’s dog Moses tries to hump everything it can whilst the Byrnes’s Mister Jinx is fully toilet trained, he can even flush.

Greg’s attempts to keep Jack impressed are hampered by his untamed parents who are so proud of him that they’ve even constructed a shrine to his achievements; “I didn’t know they made ribbons for 9th place” observes Jack. His parents even indulge in dinnertime conversation about his faulty circumcision, and how he lost his virginity to their maid, at the age of 19; “We were so relieved” they say. Both families show their weirdness though, as along the way comes Little Jack, Jack’s baby grandchild who he is breast-feeding using a specially designed strap on breast, the “mannary gland”.    

Meet The Fockers is over the top; Greg’s parents are just as wild as Jack is uptight and their differences can seem a little too exaggerated. Just as in the predecessor, Greg’s life is plagued by misfortune as things go wrong around him despite his good intentions and you cannot help but cringe for Greg as he tries to please both parties.

Hoffman and Streissand form a very convincing couple, especially when they argue and talk across each other’s lines. De Niro is the same old character but in a new setting, where he has to show some leniency to the Fockers as he is their guest. This film is more of the same, but this is no bad thing as little time is needed introducing the situation or characters. Though a lot more predictable, as a continuation of Meet The Parents, Meet The Fockers turns out to be pretty good.

Nick Grills