Little Fockers

In case we forgot what a funny last name Focker is, Little Fockers makes about 32 references to it.  Unfortunately, that joke, along with many others were used so many times that one might actually scream watching this unnecessary second Meet The Parents sequel.  I'm almost certain that every joke and sight gag was either used directly, or was alluded to in the previous installments.  On top of that what a tremendous waste of some of the most talented actors in the business (don't anyone for one moment think I am referring to Owen Wilson and Jessica Alba because they were awful, and will be dealt with later).

Yes,  believe it or not this movie includes three Oscar winners (Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, and Barbra Streisand)  First of all, Dustin Hoffman was not going to be in this at first, but the producers knew their movie was awful and essentially bribed Hoffman into returning in his funny role as Bernie Focker.  The problem is that his scenes seem extremely random, as they were added after filming had completed.  Also, his part was far too short!  He was one of the main reasons why I enjoyed Meet the Fockers so much.  Barbra Streisand for the most part also is not utilized much, although I will admit her two segments of "The Roz Focker Show" were actually pretty funny.  And poor Robert De Niro.  He is so talented and actually funny, and yet I swear he could have ad-libbed better dialogue, while being heavily sedated.

Another problem I have with this is the unfunny, sexual jokes, often times said by children.  What were they thinking!?! That is weird and uncomfortable and I would not want my kid to memorize some of these lines.  Another thing, why in the world would you have a Viagra type drug and its effects on Robert De Niro be like a 10 minute scene in the movie.  It is frightening and may either cause you to gag or have severe nightmares.

Finally, Owen Wilson is awful and not funny in the least.  He infuriates me sometimes, especially since he had so much screen time.  And Jessica Alba may even be worse, because she is an absolutely terrible actress, one of the worst I have ever seen.  It's like she is reading off of cue cards and putting weird, cheesy inflections into everything she says, so that she is positive the audience knows she is attempting to make a joke.  And her looks are completely cancelled out by her attempts to act as far as I am concerned.

Also, Laura Dern and Harvey Keitel were randomly added (more star power?) and also wasted.  It's like the movie makers cannot handle so much celebrity in one movie.  Basically, this movie was predictable, unnecessary, a complete waste of talent, annoying, tedious, random, predictable...basically exactly what the majority of the human race was expecting about 7 seconds into the trailer.   If you are thinking about seeing this movie...shame on you!...unless it's free...or if you like some of the actors and want to wish you were watching them in something better.

All they really needed to do was fire Jessica Alba and Owen Wilson and reprimand them and give Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand more screen time! Those two things would have at least upped the enjoyment a little bit.  Yes, this review was very ranty, but I was in the mood to be really harsh with a movie, and my goodness this was just too perfect to pass up (9% on Rotten Tomatoes!).  I can only assume in 4-6 years there will be another movie with the word Focker somewhere in the title.

Oh and in case anyone cares the main plot is Jack (De Niro) wants Greg (Ben Stiller) to be the one to carry on the family name or something, but naturally Jack still doesn't trust his son-in-law and thinks he's having an affair.  At this point I'm just worn out.

1/2 star out of 4...oh yes...I would watch this 5 more times before I even consider watching the credits of Year One again.


-Joseph Sbrilli