MEET THE FOCKERS (2004) Review
Direction: Jay Roach
Cast: Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Owen Wilson
Screenplay: John Hamburg and James Herzfeld; from an original story by Herzfeld and Marc Hyman
Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Meet the Fockers
Four of the six principals in the cast of Jay Roach's Meet the Fockers — Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, and Blythe Danner — have among themselves five Academy Awards and an additional ten Oscar nominations for acting, one Tony win and six additional nominations, and numerous other acting awards and nominations from around the world.
What to do with all that honor and prestige? Well, how about throwing them into the fetid garbage dumpster of a Ben Stiller flick about chopped-off foreskin, babies that say "asshole," and little dogs that get flushed down the toilet? You won't believe Hoffman, Streisand, Danner, and De Niro have done what they've done unless you see it for yourselves.
In Meet the Fockers, a sequel to box-office hit Meet the Parents, two disparate families, the hippie-ish Fockers (Hoffman, Streisand) and the conservative Byrneses (De Niro, Danner) meet before the wedding of their children, Greg Focker (Stiller) and Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo).
Besides being incredibly stupid, Greg is also a walking bad luck curse. Whatever can go wrong with him, does. If that weren't enough, the Byrnes patriarch, a constipated right-wing Republican and former CIA agent, will do whatever it takes to prevent Greg from marrying his daughter.
Papa Byrnes could have solved the matter the CIA way, but sadly no swift assassinations take place in Meet the Fockers. Stiller's Greg and his family members and in-laws are all still very much alive at the end, ready for the next neuron-zapping, vomit-inducing sequel.