Ben Stiller is still vying for Robert Deniro’s approval after all these years in the comedy LITTLE FOCKERS.Stiller again reprises his role as Greg Focker, the lovable, but flawed son-in-law of Jack Byrnes, played by Deniro. While reviewing the Byrnes family tree, Jack has a mild heart attack and begins to assess his family’s structure. As the family patriarch, Jack believes Greg is the man to take over that role once he has moved on. Greg still has a few things to prove though.
The title LITTLE FOCKERS would lead you to believe that this third installment of the MEET THE PARENTS series would focus on Greg’s kids and his life as a father. Wrong, this is more of a side note, and an excuse to drag out another series through Hollywood’s comedy remanufacturing plant.
The jokes are as flat as this three-film drawn-out plot of Greg trying to win over Jack’s approval. For every minor joke that hits, there are several wrong-headed jokes and scenes that don’t. Whether it’s Jessica Alba assisting Greg with inserting a tube up a man’s rectum, Greg providing Jack a shot after taking a pill for erectile dysfunction or Greg and Jack engaged in a slugfest at Greg’s son and daughter’s fifth birthday party, there’s little that director Paul Weitz and a collection of screen writers get right.
A proverbial who’s who of actors encompass the cast including Dustin Hoffmann, Barbara Streisand, Harvey Keitel, Laura Dern, Blythe Danner, Owen Wilson and the aforementioned Alba, but their appearances serve more as cameos than characters. Although Stiller and Deniro go unscathed with their performances, the scenarios they find their characters involved in are either ludicrous or tired.
Here’s to LITTLE FOCKERS being the last Greg and Jack reunion, for their sake and ours.
Grade: D+
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