"Little Fockers" Movie Review

"Little Fockers"

Movie Review

Directed by Paul Weitz, Written by John Hamburg, Larry Stuckey, Greg Glienna (characters), Mary Ruth Clark (characters), Rated PG-13, 98-minutes.

By our guest blogger, Matthew Schimkowitz

The third and hopefully final film in the Focker trilogy, "Little Fockers," stretches the franchise's three jokes even thinner with another round of humiliation for Ben Stiller and intimidation from Robert DeNiro. Like its prequels, "Little Fockers" depends on these to guide the film through what is now a mapped mine field.

The movie picks up five years after "Meet the Fockers." Greg (Ben Stiller) is now head male nurse, while his father-in-law, Jack (Robert DeNiro), finds that age is catching up with him. After a recent heart attack, he calls Greg to see if he'll willingly take up the role as patriarch if he should die.

Honored, Greg accepts.

Yet, Greg is hardly up to the task--Greg's kids don't listen to him, his relationship with his wife (Teri Polo) wanes, and he begins hocking a Viagra-like supplement to put his kids through an expensive grade school. Needless to say, this worries Jack.

As expected, Jack investigates Greg, questioning his honesty and faithfulness. This makes Greg nervous, which is the impetus for the entire series.

The two play tug of war with Jack once again realizing he's too hard on Greg, and Greg realizing nothing in particular. This plays out in a number of scenarios, but the film focuses primarily on Greg's supposed affair with a Drug Rep named Andi Garcia (Jessica Alba) and his insecurities surrounding Pam's lifelong friend, Kevin (Owen Wilson).

Neither of these devices go anywhere. Alba's inclusion just seems like an excuse to get her in her underwear. While Kevin's lavish lifestyle looks like a way for the producer's to spend their handsome budget.

But what would a Focker film be without discarding what remains of Stiller’s dignity? Greg's fear leads to a number of embarrassing moments involving something going in or coming out of someone's body. Within the first two scenes alone, Stiller and Alba give a highly sexualized enema, followed by Greg's son vomiting on him. These are probablty the most dignified moments of the film.

The rest centers on the importance of family and jokes about the name Focker, a tired pun that wasn't all too great to begin with. "Little Fockers" follows the same formula as its predecessors with less excitement and manages to sink to even lower levels of humor.

Grade: D