You have to give it to Dustin Hoffman, he really does manage to rise above everyone and flex his comedic muscle sticking out as Greg's hippy father. He's often very funny to watch and looks like he's having a damn good time acting like an oddball as he plays off DeNiro's straight-laced Jack. Much of his fun is very entertaining to witness
including one great scene where he plays football with Jack, which ends up being pretty derivative of the first film. Streisand who I've made a personal oath never to watch on-screen surprises me with a great performance. She's hilarious most times and is very believable as Greg's loving mother who still holds a candle to Hoffman's character. They could have their own spin-off should Hollywood be so un-creatively inclined. One of the only true nuggets of realism and interest the many screenwriters touch on are the inevitable clashing of parental morals, political views, and ethics. In one fascinating scene, we watch the Focker's and the Byrnes discuss their own conflicting views on parenting and basic politics. It's one of the few enjoyable scenes that is actually well-orchestrated.

Firstly, I was never very fond of the original movie "Meet the Parents". I always thought it was a very mean-spirited comedy with very little gags that were actually funny, and I could never understand why Hollywood felt so compelled to copy that formula in many other knock-offs that were equally as bland as if the original movie was so innovative in the first place. "Meet The Fockers" is a predictable sequel with an utter predictable premise. Oddball
parents meet equally oddball parents, what a sitcom--I mean movie we have here. I couldn't understand moreso why producers felt they had to give us a sequel to a pretty stupid comedy in the first place. Taking a bland formulaic movie and turning out a bad formulaic sequel is what Hollywood's been all about lately. Wasting two hours on a terrible sequel is truly a crime, especially when such talent on display here.

So, as sitcom conventions would require, the sequel this time around is Greg's parents meeting his girlfriend's parents which adds for crazy misunderstandings, crazy misunderstandings, and--crazy misunderstandings, with a lot of physical comedy thrown in for good measure, which never amounts to the slightest bit of entertainment. This has all the conventions of a sitcom which the writers often seem to get off on. There's eccentric parents, rambunctious kids in a blatant plot device manner, and dogs and cats too smart for their own good. And the writers pull no punches when attempting to make the audience laugh, the gags are so desperate for laughs from the audience that there's even an incredibly disgusting "foreskin" gag that is more disgusting and pathetic than actually funny, and most of the jokes are reliant on the word "Focker" thrown around conveniently. The humor on Greg's character's is based around Gaylord and Focker, which seems often boring by now compared to the pretty funny joke from the first film.

The many screenwriters enlisted here couldn't even comprise a story that was both funny and engrossing and with so much talent on display, it's a shame this is nothing but clichés, and horrible plot devices that were so shameless in their delivery never bothering to remotely present us with gags that were entertaining, and the script never put the talents to good use. The plot is basically a mixture of the parents meeting and getting along, and a really stupid sub-plot involving Greg's past that was so utterly irritating I could barely keep from rolling my eyes. In order for the plot to be taken seriously the nearly six screenwriters could have given us characters that we can sympathize for, and they fail on pretty much every aspect, including Stiller's main character.

Greg's characters likability takes a dip as they make him seem very ashamed of his parents whom seem very laid back, fun, and loving and even have a mural of his accomplishments to display their pride for him. In "Parents" Jack took a progression from obsessive controlling father to understandably protective worrisome father, but the writers lack the consistency reverting Jack back to an amoral prick who becomes the villain here, because--heaven knows--every movie needs a villain, even if for no reason. In the end, "Fockers" is an unsatisfying and unfunny sequel that never pulls a laugh, and properly wastes its many talents.

There's a full on sitcom on the big screen here. Clichés, pathetic gags, crazy misunderstandings, little to no funny moments, wastes of talent, and Dustin and Barbara steal the show in what is a very unnecessary cash-in. Yes, there's nothing like a bad sequel to a pretty bad movie. Gee, I can't wait for the second sequel "Meet the Little Focker".

• Okay, we get it, their last name is Focker! Enough already!
• The MPAA would not allow the movie to use the title unless they found a family with the name "Focker".
• Alanna Ubach, who plays Greg Focker's former nanny, Isabelle, is actually 10 years younger than Ben Stiller.
• This is Dustin Hoffman and Robert Deniro's first film together.
• Cedric Yarbrough has a cameo as a local police officer here, he also plays a small town officer in "Reno 911".

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