Meet the Fockers

Meet the Fockers
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jay Roach
Produced by Jane Rosenthal
Robert De Niro
Jay Roach
Screenplay by Jim Herzfeld
John Hamburg
Story by Jim Herzfeld
Marc Hyman
Based on Characters
by Greg Glienna
Mary Ruth Clarke
Starring Robert De Niro
Ben Stiller
Dustin Hoffman
Barbra Streisand
Blythe Danner
Teri Polo
Alanna Ubach
Cedric Yarbrough
Music by Randy Newman
Cinematography John Schwartzman
Edited by Jon Poll
Lee Haxall
Alan Baumgarten
Production
company
Tribeca Productions
Everyman Pictures
Distributed by Universal Pictures (North America)
DreamWorks Pictures (International)
Release date
  • December 22, 2004 (2004-12-22)
Running time
 115 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $80 million
Box office $516 million[1]

Meet the Fockers, sometimes referred to as Meet the Parents 2, is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Jay Roach and the sequel to Meet the Parents. The film stars Robert De Niro (who was also one of the film's producers), Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner and Teri Polo. It was followed by a sequel, Little Fockers, in 2010.

Plot

Set two years after the events of the first film, Gaylord "Greg" Focker (Ben Stiller) and his fiancée Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo) decide to introduce their parents to each other. They first fly to Oyster Bay, New York, on Long Island, to pick up Pam's father, retired CIA operative Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro), her mother Dina (Blythe Danner) and one-year-old nephew Little Jack (the son of Bob and Debbie Banks). But rather than going to the airport as planned, Jack decides to drive the family to Miami to meet the Fockers in his new RV.

Once they arrive, they are greeted by Greg's eccentric but fun-loving and amiable father, Bernie (Dustin Hoffman), and mother, Roz (Barbra Streisand), who is a sex therapist for elderly couples. Concerned that Jack might be put off by the Fockers' lifestyle, Greg convinces Roz to pretend that she is a yoga instructor for the weekend. However, small cracks begin to form between Jack and the Fockers, due to their contrasting personalities. The meet gets off to a bad start when a chase between the Fockers' sexually active dog, Moses, and the Byrnes's cat, Jinx, culminates with Jinx flushing Moses down the RV's toilet, forcing Bernie to destroy it to save Moses. Later, Bernie accidentally injures Jack's back during a game of football.

Meanwhile, Pam informs Greg that she's pregnant, and the two decide to keep it secret from Jack. Jack again becomes suspicious of Greg's character when they are introduced to the Fockers' housekeeper, Isabel Villalobos (Alanna Ubach), with whom Bernie reveals Greg had a sexual affair fifteen years before. Jack later takes the RV to Isabel's 15-year-old son, Jorge (Ray Santiago), to fix the toilet, but is disturbed by Jorge's striking resemblance to Greg, and the fact that Jorge never met his father, and jumps to the conclusion that he might be Greg's son with Isabel. Meanwhile, Roz, Bernie and Dina realize Pam is pregnant, but promise not to tell Jack. Growing envious of Bernie and Roz's active sex life, Dina consults Roz on sex tips in order to seduce Jack, but none of them works.

Greg and Jack's relationship is again put to the test when Greg is left alone to babysit Little Jack, whom Jack has been raising via the Ferber method. Despite Jack's strict instructions to leave Little Jack to self-soothe, Greg is unable to stand listening to Little Jack's cries and tends to the boy to cheer him up by hugging him, putting Elmo's World on TV, and acting funny, but inadvertently teaches him the word "asshole." Disaster strikes when Greg answers a brief phone call from Roz, which is long enough for Little Jack to wander out of his playpen (which Jinx had opened), put on Scarface, and glue his hands to a bottle of rum. After a furious argument with the Fockers and his own family (though amends are quickly made), Jack resumes his spying on Greg and sends Greg and Jorge's hair samples for a DNA test, while inviting Jorge to the Fockers' planned engagement party in the hope of getting Greg to admit he is Jorge's father. At the engagement party, Jack, who automatically assumes that Greg knew about Jorge and has deliberately been keeping him a secret from Pam, introduces Greg to Jorge. Later, when Greg denies knowing anything about Jorge, Jack still refuses to believe him and drugs him with truth serum to make him talk. On stage, Greg uncontrollably blurts out that Pam is pregnant and that Jorge is his son in a Darth Vader-esqe matter before immediately losing consciousness.

The next morning, Pam questions Greg about Jorge, and Greg does not confirm or deny that he is Jorge's father, but insists that he knew nothing about him before the previous evening. Pam believes him, and is willing to work things out with him. Jack reaches his breaking point with Greg's dishonesty and demands that Pam and Dina leave the island with him. Dina refuses and reveals Jack's actions to everyone. Everyone turns against Jack, with Pam announcing her intent to marry Greg regardless of him having Jorge with Isabel, and Dina admits that they were all aware of Pam's pregnancy. A shocked and hurt Jack leaves with his grandson.

Bernie and Greg pursue Jack, but are soon tasered and arrested by an overzealous deputy sheriff, Vern LeFlore (Tim Blake Nelson), for speeding and refusing to remain in their car. Meanwhile, Jack is informed that Greg is not Jorge's father (his real father turns out to be a baseball player who also resembles Greg), and attempts to defend Greg and Bernie, but the overzealous Leflore tasers and arrests him, too. In their cell, Greg, Jack, and Bernie are released by the local judge, Ira (Shelley Berman), who is a client of Roz and a close friend of the Fockers. Before they leave, Greg asks that Jack and Bernie stop their feud. Jack admits that he made a mistake regarding Jorge and reveals his past career in the CIA to Bernie, before apologizing for his actions and making up with the two of them.

Greg and Pam are married that weekend by Pam's ex-fiancé, Kevin (Owen Wilson), who is now an ordained interfaith minister. During the party, Jack asks Roz for some sex tips and sneaks into the RV with Dina.

During the post-credit scene, Jack watches hidden baby-cam footage of the Fockers giving attention to Little Jack over Jack's previous objections: Roz gives Little Jack chocolate, Bernie advises him to use his crying to disagree with everything Jack says, and Greg pretends to drunkenly tell Little Jack to keep it a secret that he left to smoke pot, not answer the phone, when he left Little Jack unattended and that Pam is not really pregnant and only said it so that Jack would let them get married. Greg then pretends to only just discover the camera but then after making teasing gestures at it, Greg reveals that he knew about it all along and none of the things he said before was true.

Cast

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes reported that 39% of 161 sampled critics gave the film positive reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's consensus is "Talented cast is wasted as the movie is content with recycling jokes from its predecessor, Meet the Parents."[2] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 with reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 41 based on 34 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[3]

Box office

The film was a commercial success and is currently the highest-grossing film starring Robert De Niro.[4] The film grossed $46,120,980 on its opening weekend in North America (5,000 screens at 3,518 theaters, averaging $13,110 per theater, or $9,224 per screen).[5] At the end of the film's 149 days of release, it grossed a total of $279,261,160 in North America, and $237,381,779 in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $516,642,939, with an estimated 44 million tickets sold in the US. The film's budget was $80 million.[6]

Awards and nominations

  • 2005: Casting Society Of America, USA: Nominated for Best Feature Film Casting: Comedy.
  • 2005: Teen Choice Awards: Nominated for Choice Movie: Blush, Choice Movie Actor: Comedy, Choice Movie Actor: Comedy, Choice Movie: Liar.
  • 2005: MTV Movie Awards Won: Best Comedic Performance.
  • 2005: ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards: Won Top Box Office Films.
  • 2005: MTV Movie Awards in Mexico: Nominated for Best International Movie.

References

  1. ↑ "Meet the Fockers (2004)". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved April 6, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Meet The Fockers (2004)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved October 3, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Meet the Fockers reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 3, 2010.
  4. ↑ "Robert De Niro Movies Box Office Results". www.boxofficemojo.com. IMDb. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  5. ↑ "Meet the Fockers (2004) - Weekend Box Office Results - Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo.
  6. ↑ "Meet the Fockers (2004)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved October 3, 2010.
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