1706. Meet The Fockers (2004)

Starring: Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman

Director: Jay Roach

Running Time: 115 mins

Meet The Fockers is an American film and the sequel to Meet The Parents. Planning to get married, Greg and Pam are accompanied by the Byrnes family on a trip to the Fockers household, where everything that could go wrong does.

As far as comedy sequels go, this is pretty good. Although not as gut-bustingly hilarious as Meet The Parents, Meet The Fockers is a solid follow-up that takes a brilliant formula and makes it work very well once again. With yet more hugely entertaining performances across the board, fun humour and cringe-inducing antics throughout, there’s even more fun to be had second time round.

But let’s start off where the first film really excelled: the performances. Last time out, the dynamic between Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller was the real heart of such a funny film, so I’m delighted to say that that continues on brilliantly here.

Although the added bonus of Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman doesn’t necessarily make the battle between the Fockers and the Byrnes even more insane, De Niro and Stiller work brilliantly again as nemeses. De Niro’s crazily intense and thorough persona is just as much fun to watch as last time out, whilst Stiller does just as well at making all of the film’s most cringeworthy moments all the more painful to watch, adding to the fun factor tenfold.

That said, the supporting performances are good fun as well. Although they don’t shine as much as De Niro and Stiller, Streisand and Hoffman make for some great laughs throughout as Stiller’s irritatingly hippieish parents, whilst supporting performances from Blythe Danner and Teri Polo are just as good as last time, and even the young Pickren brothers, both of whom play Little Jack, star in one of the best baby performances you’ll ever see on the big screen.

We can’t praise those brilliant performances without also looking at the writing here. Once again, the screenplay does a great job at making the collection of dysfunctional family members all the more ridiculous and entertaining. Although the film definitely loses points for what is a very similar story to the first film, it’s difficult to ignore how sharp and enjoyable the comedy writing is here, and that’s what really makes this film work so well in the end.

Overall, I had huge fun with Meet The Fockers. It’s not quite as stunning as its predecessor, but with yet more excellent comedy and entertaining performances, you’ll definitely have a great laugh with this one from start to finish, and that’s why I’m giving it a 7.5.