Not what I expected, but still funny...

Rating: 7/10 (19 December 2005)

MEET THE FOCKERS was the 2004 sequel to the surprise hit MEET THE PARENTS, in which Greg and Pam Focker (Ben Stiller and Teri Polo) along with Pam's parents (Robert De Niro and Blythe Danner) take a road trip with Pam's infant nephew, to meet Greg's parents, played by Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand. I must admit upon hearing there was going to be a sequel to MEET THE PARENTS, I expected something along the lines of watching Greg and Jack Burns (De Niro) learning how to get along as son-in-law and father-in-law, but this sequel skips right over that period of adjustment and has Greg and Jack almost friendly with each other as they prepare to meet their in-laws, who are nothing like the straight-laced Burns family. Bernie Focker (Hoffman) is a stay-at-home husband and wife Roz (Streisand) is a sexual therapist and naturally they are the polar opposites of Jack and Dina Burns, wild, free-spirited people who say what is on their mind at all times and don't seem to care if people hear them having sex in their bedroom. Personally, I think Hoffman practically steals this film as the fiercely loyal yet slightly demented Bernie Focker, whether it's defending his son's lack of scholastic achievements or working diligently at satisfying his wife's sexual appetite. Hoffman just seems to be having a ball here and it really shows in his performance and it's not easy stealing scenes from Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro but Hoffman does just that. Even Streisand is more controlled than usual and gives a nicely modulated performance as Greg's sexually uninhibited Mom. Even though it wasn't the story I was expecting, I found MEET THE FOCKERS quite entertaining, anchored by a brilliant comic turn by Dustin Hoffman as Bernie Focker.