A Terrible Movie

Rating: Null/10 (20 August 2002)

This movie is almost painful to watch. You just feel sorry for Ben Stiller's character. He basically spends a couple days being tormented and humiliated by his girlfriend's family. There is no way anyone would put up with this crap in real life. I would have left the first night. He is intimidated and nervous around his girlfriend's father, and desperate for approval, so he screws up over and over, each time worse than the last. The father doesn't help matters, as he belittles and embarrasses the poor guy at every opportunity. (Sorry, I forget the characters names.) The girlfriend hardly does a damn thing to stick up for him. Then Dad's friends show up and join in on the fun. One scene in particular has them playing volleyball in the pool and they are ridiculing him for missing the ball. So then he overcompensates and ends up smashing his girlfriend's sister in the face with the ball. They all criticize him, telling him it's "just a game, Focker!" and act as if he meant to hurt the girl. Another is when he finally has enough and is leaving and the whole bunch stands on the porch and laughs at his given name, which we find out is Gaylord. The girlfriend says nothing, just letting the poor guy take another kick in the teeth after all the other humiliation he's been through for her sake. The entire family is totally unlikable, Focker is the only one I cared about, and that's only because I was forced to care by watching this poor guy get put through the ringer over and over. Then comes the contrived ending where everything is made good in about five minutes and he forgives all. If I were this guy, I would never speak to these psychos again. Sorry to run on so much, but this movie really affected me and I couldn't see how someone could laugh at this guy's misfortunes. Maybe it's just me...