"Meet the Parents" is a really good movie. "Meet the Fockers," however, is good, but not as good as "Meet the Parents." There, that's it, the review's over. Good night, folks!
Okay, fine, I'm just kidding. Well, I AM kidding, but I'm not. The above paragraph sums up my feelings perfectly. Is the movie funny? Yes. At times, it's very funny, but at times, it's also very stupid. Is it good? Yes. At times, it's very good, but at times, though it never gets bad, you realize that there are no real surprises at all. Even the "surprise cameo" is about as big a shock as the end of an "Encyclopedia Brown" story.
As soon as "Meet the Parents" became a runaway success, there was talk of the inevitable sequel, which just HAD to be titled "Meet the Fockers" (I do think it's a funny title). In the first film, Ben Stiller and Teri Polo play a young couple who are happy and in love. Wedding bells are in the horizon, but first, Ben Stiller's character must meet his fiancee's parents. Her mom, played by Blythe Danner, is very cool, no problem there. But her dad, played by Robert De Niro, is a tough nut to crack. Hilarity ensues... and it really does. For the sequel, all of the main characters are back, but this time, they all go to visit the parents of Ben Stiller's character, and they're played by Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand. At first, I thought it woulda been better if the parents were played by Ben Stiller's real-life parents, the comedy team of Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller (who you may remember from "Seinfeld"... he played George Costanza's father). But based on the characters in the script, they would have been horribly miscast. Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand are actually perfect for those roles.
The acting really is very good, Stiller and De Niro are as great as they were in the first film, but the movie belongs to Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand. Maybe I feel that way because they're the only things in the movie that feel new. Actually, no, it's more than that. They inject some life into a movie that would have otherwise been completely humdrum. They add a lot to the film, and they're hilarious, but really, the movie is unnecessary and totally forgettable.
The film was directed by Jay Roach, who also directed "Meet the Parents" and the "Austin Powers" movies. He's a good director, but I'd like to see him try something other than comedy. As for who wrote the movie, the story was by Marc Hyman (he wrote "Osmosis Jones" and helped write "The Perfect Score") and James Herzfeld (he wrote "Meet the Deedles" and helped write "Meet the Parents"). The screenplay was by John Hamburg (he wrote "Along Came Polly" and he helped write "Zoolander" and "Meet the Parents") and James Herzfeld. The script wasn't bad, but like I said, there were no real surprises.
In many ways, "Meet the Fockers" is just another retread of "Meet the Parents." However, the movie really does have some funny moments, and Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand are awesome. If you're a fan of the first film, you should definitely see it, and you won't hate yourself for seeing it in the movie theater. I think you'd be fine waiting for the DVD, though.
Scale of 1-10: 7