This third installment in the Meet the Parents franchise finds male nurse and family man Gay "Greg" Focker (Ben Stiller) and his ex-spy father-in-law Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) continuing their battle of wills to ridiculous new highs (or is that lows?). As Greg and his wife Pam (Teri Polo) prepare for their young twins' upcoming birthday, Jack is nursing a heart condition that's got him mulling who should become the family's patriarch should he die.
For reasons that I won't bother to spoil, Jack selects Greg who, of course, must endure a new set of tests and expectations. Greg, though, stands to ruin it all when he begins working with an exuberant and unbelievably hot drug company sales rep named Andi Garcia (like the actor Andy Garcia, get it?!), played by Jessica Alba. Andi is totally into Greg, which only make his mission to win over Jack that much more difficult.
Little Fockers is a colossal waste of such a talented group of actors. Owen Wilson goes through the motions as his grating returning character Kevin, Pam's ex-boyfriend-cum-New Age mogul, a part that should have just been a skit-length cameo but is instead stretched into a major supporting role. Blythe Danner once again plays the thankless role of Jack's wife, getting one embarrassing "sexy" scene to give her character something to do.
Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman (who was infamously brought back for last minute re-shoots after initially sitting out the film) reprise their roles as Greg's liberated parents, with the former playing up her "Dr. Ruth" schtick and the latter seemingly only in it to flamenco dance. Laura Dern has a cameo as a prep school administrator and ex-flame of Wilson's, but she is quickly introduced and then gotten rid of not unlike the completely needless casting of Harvey Keitel in a two-scene bit part as the contractor working on Greg's new house.
Alba is fine as Greg's slightly kooky colleague who has the hots for him, but her character's simply a gimmick. This is the type of role Kelly LeBrock would have played once upon a time; at least Alba shows some capacity for comedy. Overall, though director Paul Weitz and Co. simply bring nothing new or fresh to the proceedings. Nearly all the gags fall flat, while everything plot-wise happens arbitrarily. Furthermore, some sequences are jarring in that they were obviously re-shoots (the length and tint of Wilson's hair noticeably changes during the climactic sequence).
There's a sequence in Little Fockers where we see De Niro brawling, which doesn't conjure as many laughs as it does sad reminders of how far away Raging Bull seems from the kind of films he's known for now. Add Hoffman and Keitel to the mix and it's practically the big screen equivalent of seeing Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, where aging icons appeared as shadows of their former selves. This Fockin' series just needs to retire now.
2 out of 5 Stars, 4/10 Score
