Refreshing, well written, and well acted.

Rating: 8/10 (2 February 2005)

I was really happy with Meet The Fockers. I was not sure if it could live up to the first movie and I was expecting a lot of lowbrow humor. There are, of course, some lowbrow jokes (all of the play on the Focker name), but it is, for the most part, funny without getting too crude and without a lot of bad language. It was refreshing to see a comedy that was funny based on the merits of the writing and the acting, rather than depending on base humor and sight gags. Dustin Hoffman was superb and DeNiro gives a performance where you forget it is DeNiro you are watching, which is great considering all of the expectations that come with him. The laughs never let up and the story, in the end, is about accepting your family for who they are and about dealing with the obstacles that life throws at you. If there is a negative about the film, I think it is the editing. It felt really choppy in a few spots. But that did not prevent me from enjoying the film. It exceeded my expectations and I highly recommend it if you are in the mood to laugh and have a genuinely good time at the movies. Bravo to all involved in making this picture.