Bland in a large quantity.

Rating: 4/10 (19 June 2005)

While society abundantly faced a horrific amount of misleading and unnecessary sequels from decent to great films attracting most general audiences, some of those films actually deserved a continuation in its story for having an enjoyable plot and rich ideas. Meet the Parents (2000) was one of those films. Although not a particular favorite, it had everything leveled up as a satire: sarcastic humor, never-ending sequences of Gaylord Focker (Ben Stiller) messing around and making certain things worst, all blended with a little dash of paranoia and witty ideas. As the film ended with Stiller proposing to his girlfriend Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo) a continuation seemed demandable; as much as the final shot of Teri's strict and former CIA father Jack (Robert De Niro) mentioning how they should meet Gaylord's parents (despite of his odd first name).
Meet the Fockers (2004) seemed promising to continue that same style of Meet the Parents, and although I had been waiting to watch its continuation for a while, I had some feeling that it was going to be bland in a way. It was more than bland; it was disappointing and rigged with a lack of planning, good dialogue, and moments. It's unfortunate, seeing as the film has talented actors such as Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, and Ben Stiller; and even THEY don't save the crumbling plot of the film.
As there is a large change of details and story lines in this film compared to Meet the Parents, this one is far too predictable at almost all moments end up as a stale conjunction of elements and ideas being tossed around. And as what happens in this film, we see Gaylord Focker (Ben Stiller) and his fiancée Pam (Teri Polo) traveling over to her parents Jack and Dina Byrnes (Robert De Niro and Blythe Danner) house, which both made a large happening for the whole hilarious plot construction in Meet the Parents. So in turns out we see Jack doting on his younger grandson, slapstick humor of Stiller getting a hit on the head by the baby to attempt to gain laughs And so on and so forth. That's just example of how the humor works in a nutshell when it comes to this film.
While we accompany the drive down to the Focker family, with Danner's slow acting and Stiller confused as usual, they reach Gaylord's parents house. His father, Bernie Focker (Dustin Hoffman) is a happy loving kind of guy, along with his wife Roz (Barbra Streisand) who is a sex therapist that tries to hide her job to Pam's parents. The rest that follows along in the film gets kind of humorous at some times, but the bland volume and awful script intervals for it to contain too much humor, such as Pam announcing her pregnancy. We see such moments like Gaylord's awful "Hall of Fame," with 9th place ribbons, the dog falling down the toilet, a lot of sexual jokes to attempt to appraise the audience's mood (as much as Roz asking to help Dina's sex life,) and other good ideas that get wasted when it all comes together in the style of this film. Hoffman's acting practically saves the entire film, with his great talent, optimism and energy, while all the rest of the cast only brought an extra tear of despair and boredom to my eye as the film progressed.
In the end, Meet the Fockers is a film for anyone who really wants to take a shot and attempt to enjoy the so-called successor of Meet the Parents. Just keep in mind that the film is an example how De Niro's talent is going down the drain, as much as a lot of the film industry. That is my "Circle of Trust" to you.