Little Fockers

Synopsis: The test of wills between Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) and Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) escalates to new heights of comedy in the third installment of the blockbuster series — Little Fockers. Laura Dern and Jessica Alba join the returning all-star cast for a new chapter of the worldwide hit franchise.

It has taken 10 years, two little Fockers with wife Pam (Teri Polo) and countless hurdles for Greg to finally get “in” with his tightly wound father-in-law, Jack. After the cash-strapped dad takes a job moonlighting for a drug company, however, Jack’s suspicions about his favorite male nurse come roaring back.

When Greg and Pam’s entire clan — including Pam’s lovelorn ex, Kevin (Owen Wilson) — descends for the twins’ birthday party, Greg must prove to the skeptical Jack that he’s fully capable as the man of the house. But with all the misunderstandings, spying and covert missions, will Greg pass Jack’s final test and become the family’s next patriarch…or will the circle of trust be broken for good?

Release Date: December 22, 2010     MPAA Rating: PG-13

Genre(s): Comedy,

Film Review

Let’s get up to date with the Focker’s, and their immediate family. Greg (Ben Stiller) is now working in administration as a Nurse and less on the hospital floor. Pam (Teri Polo) is a stay-at-home for the two little Focker twins who are about to turn five years-old. Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro), Pam’s father and Greg’s thorn-in-the-side, is aging and considering the future of the family. After the “good” son-in-law is outed as an adulterer he finds himself in the predicament of finding who he can pass the family patriarch title to, and his only real option is Greg (Gaylord) Focker. With this realization we actually see a softer side to Jack in the beginning of the film. His acceptance of Greg appears to have happened after years of torment. That is until Jack comes to visit with Greg and Pam and his mind goes into ex-super spy mode. Shocking? No. This is Jack Byrnes. He is suspicious of everyone, even his family, and always assumes the worse about his son-in-law. What ensues is the Greg vs. Jack push and pull that has existed in this family since the beginning; this time focusing on infidelity and child rearing. The addition of a drug rep, Andi Garcia (Jessica Alba), to make Jack suspect infidelity on the part of Greg is so cliche it is painful to see such a decision resorted to from the writer’s. She may be beautiful and bubbly and have one memorable scene with Greg that is hilarious but its all so predictable. The entire movie is predictable because it is written just as any other comedy about a son-in-law and his not so friendly father-in-law is written. Yet it is not even that funny! This is a comedy that falls flat with only a few signs of life now and again. I think it is time to ditch the defibrillator and let this franchise die.

Focker. Focker, Focker, Focker. How many times and in how many ways can you say Focker and have it be funny? Well, if you were to ask screenwriter’s John Hamburg and Larry Stuckey they would inevitably say “an insurmountable amount of times”. The proof of this assumption can be found in this third installment of the Focker Franchise. Little Fockers plays it very safe with the humor and very redundant if you have seen the prior two films, Meet The Parents and Meet The Fockers. The jokes is always on the Focker name, as well as the suspicious prying eye of father-in-law Jack, and the completely overdone obsession family friend Kevin (Owen Wilson) has for Pam (Teri Polo). The introduction of the Focker children showed promise in the beginning of the film but they go practically ignored when it comes to the comedy so that Ben Stiller (Greg) and Robert De Niro (Jack) can continue their love/hate relationship in the spotlight. Sure, the Viagra imitation drug scene (you may have seen this in the trailer) between the two is hilarious, but only for about 2 minutes. This brings me back to the Focker name because that is really all this movie has going for it when it comes to comedy. Hearing De Niro say “The GodFocker” provides a good laugh but only really for the connotation it holds in his personal career–if you don’t get the joke then you don’t get the joke and you just lost out on one of the few in the entire film. I expected more from the Focker’s, and their children. But when all a film does is re-hash the same material with a couple new characters thrown in you start to wonder what the point of making the film was in the first place.

Cast and Crew

• Director(s): Paul WeitzJay RoachJohn Hamburg
• Producer(s): John HamburgLarry Stuckey
• Screenwriter(s): Robert DeNiro (Jack Byrnes)Ben Stiller (Greg Focker)Owen Wilson (Kevin Rawley)
• Story: Dustin Hoffman (Bernie Focker)
• Cast: Barbra Streisand (Roz Focker)Blythe Danner (Dina Byrnes)Teri Polo (Pam Focker) Andi Garcia (Jessica Alba)Prudence (Laura Dern)Randy Weir (Harvey Keitel)Greg HaydenLeslie JonesMyron KersteinRemi Adefarasin
• Editor(s): William Arnold
• Cinematographer: Stephen Trask
• Production Designer(s):
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• Casting Director(s): 
• Music Score: 
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