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''Meet the Fockers'' is a 2004 American
comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...
directed by
Jay Roach Mathew Jay Roach (born June 14, 1957) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the ''Austin Powers'' film series, '' Meet the Parents'', '' Dinner for Schmucks'', '' The Campaign'', '' Trumbo'', and '' Bombshell''. Roach also e ...
and the sequel to the 2000 film ''
Meet the Parents ''Meet the Parents'' is a 2000 American comedy film written by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg and directed by Jay Roach. It chronicles a series of unfortunate events that befall a good-hearted but hapless nurse ( Ben Stiller as Greg Focker) while ...
''. The film stars Robert De Niro (who was also one of the film's producers), Ben Stiller,
Dustin Hoffman Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is th ...
,
Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...
, Blythe Danner and
Teri Polo Theresa Elizabeth Polo (born June 1, 1969) is an American actress. She starred as Pam Byrnes-Focker in the ''Meet the Parents'' trilogy and played the role of police officer Stef Adams Foster in the Freeform series '' The Fosters'' (2013–201 ...
. Despite mixed reviews, the film was a box office hit, grossing $522 million worldwide. It was followed by a sequel, '' Little Fockers'', in 2010.


Plot

Two years after the events of
the first film ''The First Film'' is a 2015 British documentary film about cinema pioneer Louis Le Prince, made by David Nicholas Wilkinson. It argues the case that Le Prince, rather than the Lumière brothers, was the true inventor of moving pictures, making ...
, Gaylord "Greg" Focker and his fiancée Pam Byrnes decide to introduce their parents to each other. They first fly to
Oyster Bay, New York The Town of Oyster Bay is the easternmost of the three towns which make up Nassau County, New York, United States. Part of the New York metropolitan area, it is the only town in Nassau County to extend from the North Shore to the South Shor ...
, to pick up Pam's father, retired CIA operative Jack Byrnes, her mother Dina, and Pam's one-year-old nephew, Jack "Little Jack" Banks (the son of Bob and Debbie Banks). Rather than going to the airport as planned, Jack decides to drive the family to
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
to meet Greg's parents in his new RV. Once Greg, Pam, and Pam’s parents arrive in Miami, they are greeted by Greg's eccentric but fun-loving and amiable father, Bernie Focker, a lawyer-turned-stay-at-home-dad, and Greg's mother, Roz, who is a sex therapist for elderly couples. While Dina bonds with the Fockers, small cracks begin to form between Jack and the Fockers, due to their contrasting personalities. The gathering gets off to a bad start when a chase between the Fockers' dog, Moses, and the Byrneses' cat, Jinx, culminates with Jinx flushing Moses down the RV's toilet, forcing Bernie to destroy it to save Moses. Later, Bernie accidentally injures Jack's back during a game of touch football. Pam informs Greg that she is pregnant, and the two decide to keep it a secret until they are married. Jack again becomes suspicious of Greg's character when they are introduced to the Fockers' former housekeeper, Isabel Villalobos. Bernie reveals that Greg lost his virginity to Isabel 15 years earlier. Isabel's 15-year-old son Jorge, who has never met his father and bears a striking resemblance to Greg, catches the attention of Jack after he repairs the toilet in the RV. Meanwhile, Roz, Bernie and Dina learn Pam is pregnant, but promise not to tell Jack. Greg is left alone to babysit Little Jack, whom Jack has been raising via the
Ferber method The Ferber method, or Ferberization, is a technique invented by Richard Ferber to solve infant sleep problems. It involves "sleep-training" children to self-soothe by allowing the child to cry for a predetermined amount of time at intervals before ...
. Despite Jack's strict instructions to leave Little Jack to self-soothe, Greg is unable to stand listening to Little Jack's cries and attempts to cheer him up by hugging him and acting humorously, but inadvertently teaches him the word "asshole". Greg answers a brief phone call from Roz, and Little Jack is let out of the playpen by Jinx and he glues his hands to a bottle of rum. Jack resumes his spying on Greg and sends Greg and Jorge's hair samples for a
DNA test Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...
, while inviting Jorge to Greg and Pam's engagement party in hopes of getting Greg to admit he is Jorge's father. At the engagement party, Jack, who assumes that Greg knows about Jorge and has deliberately been keeping him a secret from Pam, introduces him to Jorge. Later, when Greg denies knowing anything about Jorge, Jack still refuses to believe him and drugs him with a shot of truth serum. While giving a toast, Greg uncontrollably blurts out that Pam is pregnant and that Jorge is his son before losing consciousness. The next morning, Pam questions Greg about Jorge, and Greg promises that he knew nothing about him before the previous evening. Pam believes him, and is willing to work things out with him. Jack has reached his breaking point and demands that Pam and Dina leave with him. Dina refuses and reveals that Jack had drugged Greg. Everyone turns against Jack and informs him that they were all aware of Pam's pregnancy. Shocked and hurt, Jack leaves with his grandson. Bernie and Greg pursue Jack but are tasered and arrested by Officer Vern LeFlore for speeding and refusing to remain in Bernie’s car when pulled over. Meanwhile, Jack receives the results of the DNA test that determines Jorge's father is really a baseball player who also resembles Greg. When Jack sees Bernie and Greg being pulled over, he attempts to defend them, but LeFlore tasers and arrests him as well. In their cell, Greg, Jack, and Bernie are released by Judge Ira, a client of Roz. Before they leave, Greg asks that Jack and Bernie stop their feud. Jack admits that he made a mistake regarding Jorge and explains his past career in the CIA to Bernie before apologizing for his actions. Greg and Pam are married that weekend by Pam's former fiancé, Kevin, who is now an ordained interfaith minister. At the conclusion, Jack reviews the tape to find out why the Ferber method failed. It turned out that Little Jack was comforted by Roz each time he cried, who took care of him and let him nap. Bernie was seen feeding him chocolates and angering Jack. The climax ends with Greg playing with Little Jack.


Cast


Reception


Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
reported that 38% of 164 sampled critics gave ''Meet the Fockers'' positive reviews, with an average rating of 5.20/10. The site's consensus is "Talented cast is wasted as the movie is content with recycling jokes from its predecessor, ''Meet the Parents''." At
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 with reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 41 based on 34 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average rating of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.


Box office

The film was a commercial success and is currently the second highest-grossing film starring Robert De Niro. The film grossed $46,120,980 on its opening weekend in North America (5,000 screens at 3,518 theaters, averaging $13,110 per theater, or $9,224 per screen). By the end of the film's 149 days of release, it had grossed a total of $279,261,160 in North America, and $243,396,776 in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $522,657,936, with an estimated 44 million tickets sold in the US. The film's budget was $80 million.


Awards and nominations

*2005: Casting Society Of America, USA: Nominated for ''Best Feature Film Casting: Comedy''. *2005: Teen Choice Awards: Nominated for ''Choice Movie: Blush'', ''Choice Movie Actor: Comedy'', ''Choice Movie Actor: Comedy'', ''Choice Movie: Liar''. *2005: MTV Movie Awards Won: ''Best Comedic Performance''. *2005: ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards: Won ''Top Box Office Films''. *2005: MTV Movie Awards in Mexico: Nominated for ''Best International Movie''.


Sequel

A sequel to the film, titled '' Little Fockers'', was released on December 22, 2010.


References


External links

* * * * * * {{John Hamburg 2004 films 2004 comedy films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films American comedy films American interfaith romance films American sequel films Films about weddings Films set in Miami Films set in Florida Films scored by Randy Newman Films with screenplays by John Hamburg Films produced by Robert De Niro Films directed by Jay Roach Universal Pictures films DreamWorks Pictures films