Thursday, July 9, 2009

Meet the Fockers

Day 190 - 7/9/09 - Movie #190

BEFORE: Well, what did you think I was going to watch next - "Cape Fear"?

THE PLOT: All hell breaks loose when the Byrnes family meets the Focker family for the first time.

AFTER: I actually liked this a little better than "Meet the Parents", because it had more heart somehow. Again, it's a simple premise - in-laws meeting each other - carried to the extreme, as a weekend together spirals out of control. But this time even though Greg Focker has learned to follow his future father-in-law's rules, his parents (Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand) just keep on being their wacky selves.

There's still a lot of lowbrow comedy - too many puns on the name "Focker", like relatives Dom Focker and Randy Focker, and an overabundance of gross-out fluids - breast milk, RV toilet tank stuff - (were they attempting to capitalize on the success of "There's Something About Mary"?) but Hoffman and Streisand as an oversexed hippie Jewish couple are very endearing.

Some good cameos late in the film - Shelley Berman as a judge, and Tim Blake Nelson and Cedric Yarbrough (Reno 911) as cops.

RATING: 7 out of 10 sex manuals

DENIR-O-METER: 6 - I still think an ex-CIA man is a great character for Bobby D., but he softens up a bit in this film, so he loses a bit of his edge. Plus he's shown up by Dustin Hoffman, playing a much wackier parent.

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