Meet the Fockers

How can you liven up another standard (though unpredictable) comedy screenplay, again with routine directing and the generally exhausted possibilities arising from the chemistry between Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller? By throwing Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand into the mix! De Niro and the possibilities of his character catch a second wind with the arrival of Hoffman and the duo of American legends play off of each other in a wonderful symphony of opposites. And Streisand is a great addition to freshen up the franchise. In order for a sequel to be better than the original, it’s not enough to just serve up more of the same; it is also necessary to refresh it and enhance it in the right places. With Meet the Fokkers, the filmmakers did an exemplary job of that. (03/05/2005)

I admit without torture that I am a bigger admirer of English dry conversational humor than of the one produced by the ensemble under the leadership of Jay Roach. As a reasonable person, however, I know that the humor used in the film is (unfortunately) above average nowadays. I have hardly noticed any farts, only a reasonable amount of vulgarisms, and only one fall from a chair... The highlight of the film is the acting of De Niro and Hoffman, where most of the best jokes come from the clash of different value scales of both fathers. On the other hand, the acting performance of Barbara Streisand is very distant to me and takes away 10% from the film. Compared to the first part, I see a clear increase in quality, so those who liked the first film will not be disappointed. Overall rating: 55%. (07/10/2006)

I expected something much worse. In the end, this collision of two different worlds with great performances from Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman is more than good. Even though the first one was a tiny bit better, I still give this a nice 4 stars. (10/20/2007)