The Inner Circle

Rating: 7/10 (30 December 2004)

Director Jay Roach's "Meet the Fockers" is funnier than it's predecessor, "Meet the Parents" (also directed by Roach). Although it basically is a collection of outrageous gags, that really has no point. After watching the story on screen by John Hamburg and James Herzfeld, one leaves having laughed a lot, and remembering it was more or less about the future in-laws meeting. The jokes in "Meet the Fockers" are very funny, but not particularly clever. It is dominated by bathroom humor, and sex jokes. This is puzzling given the caliber of the casting.
Ben Stiller returns as Greg (aka Gaylord) Focker, who is traveling with his fiancé, Pam (Teri Polo), along with her parents, Jack Byrnes (Robert DeNiro) and his wife Dina (Blythe Danner), to visit Greg's parents Bernie (Dustin Hoffman) and Roz (Barbara Streisand) in Florida. Of course the Fockers are the polar opposite of the Byrnes. Roz (Streisand) is a sex therapist for senior citizens which is introduced in a hilarious fashion. Bernie is an attorney of some sort. Recall that Jack Byrnes is a retired CIA operative, and Dina was a homemaker. To illustrate Jack's anal retentive instincts, we have his sign-language trained grandson, Little Jack (Spencer/Bradeley Pickren). Little Jack also has a nursing practice that is both hysterical, and a little creepy. Anyway, things do not go smoothly in the family bonding department. Ultimately, Greg is excluded from Jack's Inner Circle. There are some great gags involving fondue, family football, and truth serum. This time around Stiller's Greg is edgy and has more character. In "Meet the Parents" I found Greg an annoying spineless punk. I think he benefits more from this story, because he is the more normal character in this parental freak show. Hoffman, Streisand, and Danner are good. DeNiro as Jack is completely psycho. He pulls back in the end, but for the most part his Jack is unlikeable. This may have been a miscalculation.
There will probably be another sequel. Though I really did not see the point of this one. Comedies are a funny thing. I think a classic comedy makes you laugh a whole lot, and at the same time has some sort of redeeming or human quality. "Meet the Fockers" is very funny, but is not a classic comedy.