Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Meet the Fockers (2004)

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-26-2004, 05:48 PM:

Jay Roach continues to see how much R-rated fare he can cram into a PG-13 movie here.

The story is predictable, mostly, but a few of the laughs are solid. Streisand is kinda creepy. Hoffman is funny. DeNiro is much less funny than in "Meet the Parents." Stiller is funny but overwhelmed by the big names. The little baby is annoying. Babies and little kids using profanities in movies is not funny, and repeating the same thing a dozen times is even less funny.

The ending, where they usually tack on the outtakes (and where the biggest laughs can often be found), this time has "footage" from a hidden camera in the baby's crib. It is the biggest disappointment in the whole movie.

My favorite bit was the Fockers' answering machine message.

2 out of 5 stars. One star added for the fact it's doing dynamite business (that improves my opinion of any movie).

Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 12-26-2004, 07:06 PM:

The entire baby routine was grossly overplayed, and was much more effective in "Three Men and a Baby"...if anyone remembers that scene.

And yes, I also think that some of the baby scenes were inapproperiate...especially the foul language...but I would safely assume and hope that it was actually dubbed in?

Plot, regarding is similar to "The Birdcage"

It did have some laughs, and the actors were suited to their parts...

Definately an "R" rating..."PG-13" is definately inapproperiate....probably influenced by the legacy of that MPAA idiot that just retired...

K.

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 12-26-2004, 11:05 PM:

I-N-A-P-P-R-O-P-R-I-A-T-E.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 12-26-2004, 11:12 PM:

and
D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y

[Big Grin]

Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 12-26-2004, 11:19 PM:

FOCK THAT!

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 12-27-2004, 11:55 PM:

Fockers.. the lot of you!

Posted by Richard Greco (Member # 2032) on 12-28-2004, 12:13 AM:

This movie was pretty funny. There are a few parts that are really inappropriate, but nothing I see deserved an R rating. I mean, the breast was a rubber one, a FAKE!!! How anyone could get offended by that is beyond me.

I now have that song in my head "Grandpa Jack is full of PPPFT" That was pretty funny. Some of the baby's scenes I actually laughed out loud with.

It was an okay movie, not a DVD purchase for me though

2.5/5

Posted by Nicole Halper (Member # 2299) on 01-02-2005, 01:07 AM:

Well- I liked it, and I'm not ashamed to say so. It's probably only because it's just about the only family situation more insane than mine.

I actually thought it was one of the better funny movies of the year (I just rented Anchorman...and I think my IQ dropped to a 48- it was sooo bad)
You all don't seem to think so, but hey- that's fine with me.

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 01-02-2005, 02:12 AM:

quote: Nicole Halper
Well- I liked it, and I'm not ashamed to say so. It's probably only because it's just about the only family situation more insane than mine.

No fake family can ever trump the insanity that is my family. I should make a movie on it.

It would take about ten pages just to write up the basics, and still no one could ever possibly believe its real...

take for instance one of my sisters, three kids, the second by the father of the father of the first, and the third by her landlord who let her stay rent free for sex, and then he adopted the baby from her to boot. Now she is dating the YOUNGER brother of the father of the first.

And thats just for starters... fock the fockers.. they have NOTHING on my family

ciao baby

dave

Posted by David Yauch (Member # 2754) on 01-02-2005, 03:38 AM:

Holy shit dave! You SHOULD make a movie, and tour the big talk shows(springer, oprah, dr. phil) to promote it. They'd probably all bring you back for a few follow ups [Wink]

I saw the original one time when it came out and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed this because it was a lot like seeing the original again, nothing more/less.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 01-02-2005, 05:33 AM:

quote: Richard Greco
I mean, the breast was a rubber one, a FAKE!!! How anyone could get offended by that is beyond me.

I guess that's because a lot of the people who got offended by the fake tit didn't have the substantial tit-viewing experience that you have from being a regular at "Mons Venus".

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-04-2005, 02:58 PM:

I thought the fake tit was just stupid, not offensive. The baby saying "asshole" over and over was the offensive part.

My new favorite line was "You were riding him like Seabiscuit, mom."

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 01-06-2005, 08:18 PM:

I didn't find either offensive, but the fake tit thing doesn't make sense with De Niro's character. He is "ferberizing" the kid, i.e. toughening it by denying him physical contact, sweets, TV, baby talk and treating him like an adult, but he is worried about him getting traumatized when he has to drink milk from the bottle? That doesn't work. His character would rather make the baby do 10 pushups before giving him his milk.
Apart from that, I was positively surprised. I had expected this to suck, like most sequels. But it was actually quite funny and the characters were developed further from the first movie. I particularly liked Stiller's truth serum speech.
The first movie didn't have outtakes either, but footage from a hidden camera that Stiller is not aware of (he thinks he is talking to De Niro's portrait on the wall). So this ending makes a lot of sense echoing the first movie.

Posted by Mike Amici (Member # 2939) on 01-08-2005, 01:58 PM:

they have taken a 2 word joke (gaylord focker) and turned it into not one, but two movies, i watched the the entire thing through the porthole with the sound monitor off, and i could still grok what was going on! [thumbsdown]

this movie is completely inane, and therefore it will be here here for months on end!

Posted by Ron Yost (Member # 1850) on 01-08-2005, 04:02 PM:

Yes, indeed. Billion$ upon Trillion$ have been made by never overestimating the 'taste' of the average person. Not just in the moviez, of course. HSC, Bose Radios/Speakers, Popiel products, etc. etc. Many (nay, most) elections have been won on the same principle. [Big Grin]

Ron Yost .. Barnum was soooo right.

Posted by Barrett Jarabek (Member # 2727) on 01-11-2005, 08:00 PM:

i thought it was a good movie...not sure wich one was better though....maybe the 1st one, not by much though

Posted by Ryan Powers (Member # 1059) on 01-30-2005, 11:21 PM:

A decent sequel, but not as edgy as I would have liked it to be. This movie makes for a better DVD rental rather then a first run must see.

Theater/Presentation. Consolidated Theaters/ Phillips Place. Problems with presentation for all the previews. They had the screen and lens set to scope and the film was flat. So all the previews looked scrunched. I tried waiting for someone else to report the problem, but naturally no one did. So right before the movie started I ran out and got the attention of a staff member. They fixed the problem quickly. *** out of Four

Meet The Fockers- ** out of Four