Review: LITTLE FOCKERS is a Fock Up ~ Cin-e-Matic

   Little Fockers is the latest sequel to the film Meet the Parents. It reunites Ben Stiller, Robert DeNiro, as Greg Focker and Jack Byrnes. I could give an outline of the plot, but that would be pointless since this film has a near identical plot to the last two films. Greg tries to prove himself worthy of Jack’s daughter Pam (Teri Polo), Jack disapproves of Greg. Stuff happens to make Jack suspicious of Greg and hilarity is supposed to ensue. The only difference here is that the Little Fockers manages to remove the humor that the other two films possessed. Oh, and it has Jessica Alba as a drug representative that is keen on seducing Greg for some reason. The plot is painfully predictable, especially for anyone who has seen the previous two films. The big difference is that this film introduces multiple subplots that are never resolved.

   The film is helmed by director Paul Weitz, famous for American Pie. Weitz is not the most experienced director; his biggest hits were director alongside his brother Chris. Paul Weitz solo career has mostly been lackluster films like Cirque de Freak: The Vampires Assistant. After watching Little Fockers I wonder if he was possibly, intimidated by the all-star cast he had. Little skilled direction is evident in this film; perhaps he needs a little more experience before tackling another big budget film.

   Little Fockers has an excellent ensemble cast; sadly, they are all wasted on poor performances. Only two actors actually seem like their hearts are in their performances, the rest simply seem to muddle through their scenes, waiting until the end of the day to pick up their paychecks. It is not entirely their fault, much of the blame falls on the poorly written dialogue and possibly bad direction.

Gaylord “Greg” Focker- Ben Stiller
   Ben Stiller is painful to watch in some scenes. He stays well within his usual style of humor, rarely branching out into unknown waters, like trying actual comedy. There is very little to note about his performance, it was bland and uninteresting.

Jack Byrnes- Robert De Niro
   It is physically painful to hear a great actor like Robert De Niro utter some of the dialogue in this film. The lines that they give him and the situations they put him in are excruciating to watch. It seems as though they wrote his character with multiple personalities in this film because he acts out of character for a large portion of the film. No explanation is given for why he acts the way that he does, it is not character development, none of that exists in this film, rather his character switches personalities between takes.

Dina Byrnes (Jack‘s wife, Pam’s mother) - Blythe Danner
Pam Focker (Greg’s wife, Jack’s daughter)- Teri Polo
   Blythe Danner and Teri Polo, to be honest it is easy to forget that these two are in the film at all. Blythe serves only to watch De Niro move around and occasionally talk. Whereas Teri Polo’s character only exists to explain what happened to the titular Little Fockers, her and Ben Stiller’s kids. She is a stay at home mom with no personality. Sadly, neither Danner nor Polo leaves any sort of impression after the credits roll. The closest thing to an impression that I got from Danner was the sense of discomfort I felt when she attempted to seduce Robert De Niro, not a pleasant scene.

Roz Focker (Greg’s mother)- Barbara Streisand
   Barbara Streisand gave a solid performance; she seemed to handle the horrendous dialogue the best out of the cast. Of course, this may be because of her character being one of the most eccentric in the film. It may also be because her overall screen time is quite brief compared to the rest of the cast.

Bernie Focker (Greg’s father)- Dustin Hoffman
   Dustin Hoffman gave one of the two truly enjoyable performances in this film; he has near perfect comedic timing. While not the best performance of his career, he is still a joy to watch as his breaths life into the film during his brief scenes. His character is the most enjoyable to watch, yet is barely on screen. Perhaps that is why he is so enjoyable; he is not on screen long enough to enough the audience as the rest of the cast does.

Kevin Rawley- Owen Wilson
   Owen Wilson was the only other enjoyable performance of the film. His character of Kevin is as hilarious as he was in the previous two films, this time he seems to leave a larger impact on the audience. His scenes were the ones that seemed to get the most laughs from the audience.

Andi Garcia- Jessica Alba
   Good lord, Jessica Alba. No one ever said that she is a great actor; the quality of her performances varies greatly. In this film however, it is sickening to watch her, I cannot even call it acting. She is just bad. Her character is simple; she is loose drug rep who has taken an interest in Greg Focker. Her only purpose is to seem attractive and offer temptation to Ben Stiller’s character; it seems like a simple enough role. It may be supposed to come across as a testament to Greg’s character that he does not sleep with Andi, but I honestly think that the reason he did not sleep with her is that her character is so annoying. I believe that they were going with flirty in this case, and I have seen her pull that off quite well, I honestly do not understand how her character ended up like this. Forget the ending to Inception; the logic behind Alba’s performance is going to be the question that plagues me.

Randy Weir- Harvey Keitel
   Harvey Keitel’s performance made me want to cry. Keitel is one of my favorite actors and while he does not do badly in this film, his talent is sorely wasted. There was not really even a need for his character, he was completely pointless and served no purpose in this film. One of the few things that kept me watching this film was the hope that he would reappear on screen for at least one more scenes to give his character some closure, but no that plot thread is quickly forgotten.

Henry Focker-Colin Baioochi
Samantha Focker-Daisy Tahan
   As for the Little Fockers themselves, Colin Baioochi and Daisy Tahan leave absolutely no impression on the audience. These child actors are terrible, Tahan being slightly less so. The kids never seem to find a place in the film, they seem like a last minute addition to the film or an afterthought.

   This movie did have one significant factor that I found interesting. To my knowledge, this film is the first on screen pairing of screen legends Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel since Taxi Driver. Few people know this but it was Harvey Keitel who convinces Robert De Niro to accept a supporting role in Martin Scorsese’s film Mean Streets. That film was De Niro’s breakthrough role and the one that brought him to the attention of the media. Of course, this film was followed with another pair of De Niro and Keitel in yet another Scorsese picture, and arguably the most important in De Niro’s career, Taxi Driver. After parting ways after Taxi Driver, De Niro would go on to become one of the most successful actors in Hollywood, Keitel would have a more eclectic career. Little Fockers marks the first time in decades that these two have shared a scene, and it only lasts a few minutes. Like Keitel’s role in the film, their scene is brief and pointless. In fact, I am willing to bet that the scene was written just to say that the film paired them together once again.

   I think that this was the quietest theater I have ever seen a film in, half the time I felt like I was watching the film alone. In reality, the theater was quite full, maybe a half dozen empty seats in the theater. Outside of a drama, this is probably the most silent audience I have ever seen. There was rarely a laugh throughout the film, and this was billed as a comedy.

   I do not recommend this film, to anyone. It has three of my favorite actors in it, yet is probably one of the worst films I have seen any of them in. This is definitely the worst film in the franchise, even after the disappointing Meet the Fockers. This film is a mess and should not be viewed unless you are left with no other option, and even then it should be viewed with caution. I feel that this image best sums up the quality of this film, think of it as a warning.

Lovely is it not?