You'll wish you didn't 'Meet the Fockers'

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

By WILLIAM ARNOLD
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER MOVIE CRITIC

The hit 2000 comedy "Meet the Parents" garnered a lot of laughs out of the clash between an uptight, male nurse played by Ben Stiller and his conservative, ex-CIA agent, prospective father-in-law, played by a surprisingly funny Robert De Niro.

MOVIE REVIEW

MEET THE FOCKERS

DIRECTOR: Jay Roach
CAST: Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman Blythe Danner
RUNNING TIME: 114 minutes
RATING: PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, language and a brief drug reference
WHERE: Bella Bottega, Cinema 17, Crossroads, East Valley, Factoria Cinemas, Galaxy Gateway 8, Galleria 11, Grand Cinemas, Issaquah 9, Kirkland Parkplace, Majestic Bay, Metro, Mountlake 9, Oak Tree Cinemas, Pacific Place, Parkway Plaza 12, Woodinville 12
GRADE: D

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In "Meet the Fockers," the comedy continues as De Niro and family journey to Florida to meet Stiller's parents: a jolly ex-lawyer with one testicle (Dustin Hoffman) and a Dr. Ruth-like sex therapist (Barbra Streisand) whose latest book is titled, "Is Your Vagina Happy?"

In the tradition of recent Hollywood sequels, this one replays the old gags (about 50 of them dealing with the name "Focker"), gooses up the pace and lowers the level of the humor -- way lower. Be warned that the movie contains six poop jokes in its first 10 minutes.

There are exploding toilets, a Chihuahua that humps everything in sight, a baby whose vocabulary consists solely of the A-word, a dozen penis jokes and a non-stop whirl of situations involving big-breasted housemaids and horny octogenarians.

Of the cast of slumming stars, Hoffman comes off best: He's having so much fun it's almost infectious. But Streisand seems edgy and uncomfortable in her first character role and, for some reason, De Niro is not a bit funny this time. He seems totally bored.

Clearly, there's a big audience for this kind of epic gross humor. But many regular moviegoers will be appalled by its gleeful crudity and saddened by the spectacle of three icon stars mugging through a farce that's not that many notches above "Jackass: The Movie."

P-I movie critic William Arnold can be reached at 206-448-8185 or williamarnold@seattlepi.com.