Vastly inferior sequel has a few cute moments

Rating: 4/10 (25 February 2005)

(Spoiler) Meet The Parents was one of the funniest movies of the decade, as we witnessed put-upon everyman Ben Stiller terrorized by every guy's nightmare, the over-protective father-in-law, ready to believe the worst at all times, played famously by Robert DeNiro. There were a couple of slapstick scenes in the film that I still laugh at after numerous viewings, and much of the interaction rang true between Stiller and DeNiro. Nothing really rings true in Meet The Fockers, as the conflict between Stiller and DeNiro is replaced by Greg Focker's zany parents, played by Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand. Hoffman and Streisand play likable enough characters, but don't seem too likely to have raised a kid like Greg. Their over-sexed, ultra-liberal characters are kind of charming, but not really laugh out loud funny. Director Jay Roach then goes for the lowest common denominator--the cute baby. Jack is now overly obsessed with his grandson, and the movie continuously cuts to his reaction shots--he cries when Greg talks to him, he laughs when someone gets kicked in the groin, etc. He also says a profanity for his first word, and repeats it constantly. I found it kind of stupid the first time. You can practically see the kid's mother/father offscreen coaching him through the word. Ben Stiller repeats his Along Came Polly/There's Something About Mary/Meet The Parents persona, but he gets shoved to the background a little in favor of Hoffman and Streisand, and it costs the film big. Sequels are good, even great, when there's more story to tell--but this just solidifies the notion that comedies should just quit while they're ahead.