Little Fockers

They are definitely back with the next edition of hair ripping mayhem. But this time, somehow the humour is a bit more tasteful than usual. Having said that, don’t get your hopes up too high when u dare to watch Little Fockers. I say dare because that is what it would take to watch Ben Stiller’s inanities on screen. The surprising fact though is that the franchise manages to get back together some of the best actors that this world has ever seen – all multiple Oscar winners. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain that they would be going through when they have to share screen space with Ben Stiller. But then again, I cannot think of anyone else either, who could do a better job at their roles than Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Striessand. Casting is one aspect that you probably cannot question the Focker Franchise with. They do manage to get the best people for the roles. And the fact that the audiences seem to enjoy it and that this brand of comedy gets the big bucks at the BO should probably count for calling it a successful idea. I know I have never liked the series but hand on my heart, if it is making money then it should be good I guess.


Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) is a satisfied man. He has spent the better part of the past 10 years building a family that is stable and a marriage that is quite enviable. He has twins – Samantha (Daisy Tahan) and Henry (Colin Baiocchi) who were born 3 minutes apart and are about to turn 5 (although Samantha seems more like 10 – probably the only casting error in the movie). And obviously keeping the family together and strongly grounded is Pam (Teri Polo). Greg has come a long way over the past 2 years. He is now heading the department at the hospital – kind of like a Head Nurse and in a position that gets him a more than decent pay packet and also some power – including meeting medical reps and screening them before taking calls on the medication.

The gorgeous, but very conrny, Andi Garcia (Jessica Alba) meets him as the medical rep for the new drug for erectile disfunction and smooth talks her way into speaking at a conference about the drug. He tries his best to avoid it but then feels a sense of pride in the opportunity and takes it up eventually. In between all of this, his plans for getting his new house done up before the kids 5th birthday are not on track with contractor Randy (Harvey Kietel) taking his own sweet time. To add to the mess is the legendary Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) who is smarting on how he took his eye of the ball off his other son in law who cheats on his wife i.e. Pam’s sister. Now that he doesn’t have an heir to the Byrnes family, he pitches the concept to Greg who is obviously flattered and considers it to be a huge boost to his ego. Not understanding that it will eventually land him into a lot of trouble.

All this mish mash comes together with the chaos created by Grandpa Jack when he starts doubting that Greg is having an affair with Andi. Matters aren’t helped with Kevin Rawley (Owen Wilson) coming back into the scene. To cut a long story short, utter chaos as is expected from the Focker Series. I genuinely hope to God that this is the last in the series. Anyways, most of the actors are fast getting older and need to spend most of their time in making more quality movies. Time to put an end to the slapstick I say. Also, I was left wondering why is it that it is called “Little Fockers”. There was hardly any focus on the kids. Rounding it up with the added surprise that this was directed by Paul Wietz who did start with American Pie but unbelievably also directed a fabulous movie called About A Boy (Hugh Grant) which was probably his magnum opus. The narration and execution is quite average at best. I don’t like the franchise. So in my books it is a 4 on 10. But if u liked the previous ones, this one is probably the best of the lot.