Little Tony DeFranco
12-23-2004, 06:23 AM
Review: Meet the Fockers
http://www.browntownjohnny.com/index.php
Is it me or is the 'Ben Stiller' movie experience over with. Same character in every movie (except when he does cartoon comedies like 'Dodgeball' and 'Starsky and Hutch') as a schlep who is at odds with everything and everybody. Shame and humiliation are the agenda. "Something About.." and "Meet the Parents" had their game on, "Along Came Polly' and "Envy" were off the track. They were just knockoffs. "Meet the Fockers" is the awaited sequel to 'Parents' with co-star Robert DeNiro and returning director Jay (Austin P)Roach. I expected the follow-up to be in the ballpark but it's just an infield bunt (with an RBI). The down side is the tired Stiller antics, the plus side is adding Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand as the title dad and mom. Same jokes with different spins, but the comic moments in part are pretty good, thanks to Roach's deft direction.
Takes place a few years after we last left Greg (Gaylord) Focker and Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo doesn't add much) are about to embark on a road trip with future in-laws Jack and Dina Byrnes (Bobby D and Blythe Danner) to Miami to meet the Fockers. In an armored RV and Jinxy the cat along with newborn baby Lil Jack (grandson of the other daughter), they try to make it work but the dominos are tumbling. The Focker Parents, Bernie (Hoffman) and Roz (Babs) are so far to the kookier Jewish left of Jack (ex-CIA with a 10 lb bug in his ass). Roz is a senior sex therapist and dad is a house husband with a healthy sex drive. Greg is falling apart when they spill the beans on every thing he every did in his life (including losing his cherry to the nanny). That's just a start to the humiliation. But we know where it will end up......happy marriage!
The script is the weak point here, depending too much on old bits like a leg-humping dog and pratfalls (Dustin is over 60...not funny). Jacks obsession with baby training is the main center of the conflict (a strap in breast feeder is a good gag) along with The Fockers 'touchy-feely' nature. The movie depends on the talent of it's cast members, and it delivers the goods. Hoffman and Streisand have never worked together before so it is giddy to watch them (both are great comic performers). DeNiro and Hoffman are old pros (together in 'Wag the Dog') and it's magical. Worth the price to see Dustin eating whipped cream off of Babs tits! Good improv works. Lil Jack gets the better laughs (Roach does wonders with this kid....with some CGI mouth work). Not as tight as the 'Parents' but the laughs are there in parts, and the film takes the 'way too silly' route. Yer Call!
Heartbeat is a Love Beat
http://www.browntownjohnny.com/index.php
Is it me or is the 'Ben Stiller' movie experience over with. Same character in every movie (except when he does cartoon comedies like 'Dodgeball' and 'Starsky and Hutch') as a schlep who is at odds with everything and everybody. Shame and humiliation are the agenda. "Something About.." and "Meet the Parents" had their game on, "Along Came Polly' and "Envy" were off the track. They were just knockoffs. "Meet the Fockers" is the awaited sequel to 'Parents' with co-star Robert DeNiro and returning director Jay (Austin P)Roach. I expected the follow-up to be in the ballpark but it's just an infield bunt (with an RBI). The down side is the tired Stiller antics, the plus side is adding Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand as the title dad and mom. Same jokes with different spins, but the comic moments in part are pretty good, thanks to Roach's deft direction.
Takes place a few years after we last left Greg (Gaylord) Focker and Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo doesn't add much) are about to embark on a road trip with future in-laws Jack and Dina Byrnes (Bobby D and Blythe Danner) to Miami to meet the Fockers. In an armored RV and Jinxy the cat along with newborn baby Lil Jack (grandson of the other daughter), they try to make it work but the dominos are tumbling. The Focker Parents, Bernie (Hoffman) and Roz (Babs) are so far to the kookier Jewish left of Jack (ex-CIA with a 10 lb bug in his ass). Roz is a senior sex therapist and dad is a house husband with a healthy sex drive. Greg is falling apart when they spill the beans on every thing he every did in his life (including losing his cherry to the nanny). That's just a start to the humiliation. But we know where it will end up......happy marriage!
The script is the weak point here, depending too much on old bits like a leg-humping dog and pratfalls (Dustin is over 60...not funny). Jacks obsession with baby training is the main center of the conflict (a strap in breast feeder is a good gag) along with The Fockers 'touchy-feely' nature. The movie depends on the talent of it's cast members, and it delivers the goods. Hoffman and Streisand have never worked together before so it is giddy to watch them (both are great comic performers). DeNiro and Hoffman are old pros (together in 'Wag the Dog') and it's magical. Worth the price to see Dustin eating whipped cream off of Babs tits! Good improv works. Lil Jack gets the better laughs (Roach does wonders with this kid....with some CGI mouth work). Not as tight as the 'Parents' but the laughs are there in parts, and the film takes the 'way too silly' route. Yer Call!
Heartbeat is a Love Beat