Starring:
Robert De Niro as Jack Byrnes
Ben Stiller as Greg Focker
Dustin Hoffman as Bernie Focker
Barbra Streisand as Roz Focker
Blythe Danner as Dina Byrnes
Teri Polo as Pam Byrnes
Owen Wilson as Kevin Rawley
Spencer Pickren as Little Jack
Bradley Pickren as Little Jack
Alanna Ubach as Isabel
Ray Santiago as Jorge Villalobos
Tim Blake Nelson as Officer LeFlore
Shelley Berman as Judge Ira
Special Features:
Includes Theatrical Film and Extended Version
65 Hilarious Bloopers and over 20 Deleted Scenes
Feature commentary with director Jay Roach and Editor/Co-Producer Jon Poll
Fockers’ Family Portrait
Inside the Litter Box – Behind-the-scenes with Jinx the cat
The Manary Gland- Behind-the-scenes with the propmaster
The Adventures of a Baby Wrangler – An exclusive look at what it takes to direct children on the set
Matt Lauer interviews the Meet the Fockers cast
Other Info:
Widescreen (1.85:1)
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Spanish and French Languages
French and Spanish Subtitles
Running Time: 1 Hour 56 Minutes
Synopsis:
This is the sequel to the 2000 film Meet the Parents. The following is from the DVD cover:
“Domestic disaster looms for male nurse Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) when his straight-laced, ex-CIA father-in-law (De Niro) asks to meet his wildly unconventional mom and dad (Streisand and Hoffman). It’s family bonding gone hysterically hay wire, in the must-see comedy critics are calling “A laugh riot!” (Larry King).”
Meet the Fockers is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, language and a brief drug reference.
The Movie:
For some reason I absolutely loved Meet the Parents. The movie really struck a chord with me at the time I saw it and I gave it a fairly high rating. It was the last movie that I laughed so hard at that I cried. So needless to say I watched Meet the Fockers with really high expectations. Unfortunately, the movie didn’t meet those expectations, but it still ended up being an entertaining film.
The most notable thing about Meet the Fockers is the brilliant casting of Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand as Greg Focker’s parents. I couldn’t think of anyone better for the roles and they certainly did a fantastic job. Liberal and outgoing, they are the polar opposite of Robert DeNiro’s character. Giving Greg’s mother the embarrassing job of being a sex therapist was the perfect icing on the cake. After all, the whole point of these movies is to put Stiller in one embarrassing situation after the other. They certainly do that well.
A lot of what made the first movie funny is reprised in this film. DeNiro continues to use his CIA experience to dig into Greg’s past. There are more awkward moments where Greg is put on the spot for lying. There are other numerous misunderstandings. But they still manage to throw a few new gags in to keep things lively. The most notable is the addition of the new baby “Little Jack”. DeNiro’s character is extremely protective of the toddler, so when Greg inadvertently gets caught allowing the boy to watch trash TV while having his hands glued to a bottle of liquor and uttering his first words as a profanity, it’s comedy gold.
Simply put, if you enjoyed Meet the Parents, then you’re going to want to watch Meet the Fockers. And if you saw Meet the Fockers in the theaters, you’ll want to check out this new extended edition which has some new footage in it.
The Extras:
There are a ton of bonus features included on this DVD. Here are the highlights:
65 Hilarious Bloopers and over 20 Deleted Scenes Just like on the DVD for the previous film, there are a ton of bloopers included for your viewing pleasure. It quickly becomes apparent that they had a lot of fun making this movie. It’s also surprising to see what a clown Dustin Hoffman is as he loses his pants during a dance scene, farts in another scene, and more. It’s also fun to see DeNiro drop his stern exterior for once. The deleted scenes are also good to watch. You see a lot more interaction between Hoffman and Tim Blake Nelson as the state trooper. You also see Owen Wilson hit on the house maid. But most notable among the deleted scenes is a cameo by Ben Stiller in makeup as the maid’s boy’s real father. He plays a loser that plans some male bonding with his newfound son by taking him to Hooters.
Feature commentary with director Jay Roach and Editor/Co-Producer Jon Poll I should start out by noting that the commentary only plays with the theatrical version of the film, not the extended edition. But it’s still a little dry for a commentary anyway and it could really have used the input of Stiller or some of the other cast members.
Fockers’ Family Portrait These short videos highlight Hoffman, Streisand, and Stiller’s characters. Each of them talks about their roles, how they signed up for them, and their thoughts about the character’s personalities.
Inside the Litter Box – Behind-the-scenes with Jinx the cat This brief video shows the cast members making jokes about how Jinx is a big star and a diva. They also show how the cat was trained for the scenes.
The Manary Gland- Behind-the-scenes with the propmaster This is a feature telling you more than you’d ever want to know about Jack’s Manary Gland that they made for the movie.
The Adventures of a Baby Wrangler This short featurette shows how they got the babies to act for the movie. It’s interesting to see how they managed to get the toddlers to perform.
Matt Lauer interviews the Meet the Fockers cast In this TV interview, Matt Lauer manages to corner the entire cast of the film. He quizzes everyone about shooting the film and even DeNiro managed to grunt out a few brief answers. It’s a fun interview and it’s good to see the entire cast together talking about the movie.
The Bottom Line:
If you liked Meet the Parents then you’ll definitely want to check out Meet the Fockers. While it isn’t as funny of a film, the performances by Hoffman and Streisand make it worth viewing.
