Monday, January 03, 2005
Meet The Fockers: They're Stretching A Funny Name Too Far (6.5/10)
Pam: "I'm going to be Pam Martha Focker!"
Gaylord: "Did you meet my cousins? Randy & Arnie?"
That, and several other (supposed) jokes litter the script like smoking debris from a once-proud edifice of humor.
Meet The Fockers is about Gaylord Focker, with fiance & in-laws-to-be, meeting the Focker family. Unwisely, the movie chooses to work the chemistry of the first movie - the hostility between Jack Brynes (De Niro) & Gaylord (Stiller). Gaylord apparently still has issues with his to-be-FIL, and goes out of his way (though not as much as in Meet The Parents) to please Jack. This worked great in the first movie, and might have been great in the sequel - except that the sequel chose to distract itself with two 60's-hangover-personalities (the Fockers).
The result is that the script has to divide it's time between the Jack-Gaylord tension (acceptance issues), the Gaylord-Parents tension (conformity issues), and the Jack-Parents tension ("I-don't-even-know-what" issues). Doesn't quite cut it, does it? Too many situations - so little time!
The performances weren't particularly noteworthy ... the only one that did stand out to an extent was Dustin Hoffman as Bernie Focker. Robert De Niro in particular looked like he was ready to put the whole comedy genre behind him and move on back to Italian/Mobster films.
Oh the movie was definitely funny - I laughed quite a bit. But be warned - if you didn't like Meet The Parents, you definitely won't like Meet The Fockers. And if you did like Meet The Parents ... well, you might be slightly disappointed by Meet The Fockers.
But then again, what's the choice for a funny holiday-ish movie this New Years' weekend? No wonder the movie went to #1 in the US.
Gaylord: "Did you meet my cousins? Randy & Arnie?"
That, and several other (supposed) jokes litter the script like smoking debris from a once-proud edifice of humor.
Meet The Fockers is about Gaylord Focker, with fiance & in-laws-to-be, meeting the Focker family. Unwisely, the movie chooses to work the chemistry of the first movie - the hostility between Jack Brynes (De Niro) & Gaylord (Stiller). Gaylord apparently still has issues with his to-be-FIL, and goes out of his way (though not as much as in Meet The Parents) to please Jack. This worked great in the first movie, and might have been great in the sequel - except that the sequel chose to distract itself with two 60's-hangover-personalities (the Fockers).
The result is that the script has to divide it's time between the Jack-Gaylord tension (acceptance issues), the Gaylord-Parents tension (conformity issues), and the Jack-Parents tension ("I-don't-even-know-what" issues). Doesn't quite cut it, does it? Too many situations - so little time!
The performances weren't particularly noteworthy ... the only one that did stand out to an extent was Dustin Hoffman as Bernie Focker. Robert De Niro in particular looked like he was ready to put the whole comedy genre behind him and move on back to Italian/Mobster films.
Oh the movie was definitely funny - I laughed quite a bit. But be warned - if you didn't like Meet The Parents, you definitely won't like Meet The Fockers. And if you did like Meet The Parents ... well, you might be slightly disappointed by Meet The Fockers.
But then again, what's the choice for a funny holiday-ish movie this New Years' weekend? No wonder the movie went to #1 in the US.
