'The Little Fockers'

'The Little Fockers' (PG-13) (1 1/2 stars)

Writers: John Hamburg and Larry Stuckey
Director: Paul Weitz
Starring: Ben Stiller, Robert Deniro, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner, Jessica Alba,
Owen Wilson, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Harvey Keitel, Tom McCarthy

"Little Fockers" might be a blessing in disguise for I think the third in this popular series will kill the franchise. Actually it will probably make a lot of money and then the film as ended can follow up on it's new direction. That was the real depressing part for the movie promises a tease that there will be more. I was depressed because a lot of talent was wasted, the first movie was damn funny and I can only take so much dick jokes. This embarrassing comedy takes us back to Greg Focker and his in-laws. Now the family has grown and there are two little Fockers. Grandpa Jack is back and this time he worries about who will be next in line to run the Jack Byrnes family dynasty. This leads to more misunderstandings that lead to more slapstick comedy that would make The Three Stooges roll over in their graves. For a movie focused on two little kids, rated PG-13 and where there were about 25 kids under the age of 8 in the theatre it was curious how much sex jokes were in this. When "The King's Speech" gets a lame (R) rating for a few f words this movie actually is close to R rated and has no problems with a ratings board. Hmm.

Again I am not a prude, this is the regular movie goer blog. I am not a stuffy, overly critical monster who doesn't like vulgar comedies. I love "The Hangover" and Farrelly brother comedies but that is because the dirty jokes are funny, key word, "funny". The only time I chuckled was when Owen Wilson was on the screen. He steals the movie and his comic chemistry with Stiller is great. I love that Robert Deniro does comedy a lot now but here he mugs, looks uncomfortable and isn't funny like he was in the first one. Stiller is fine and I love Blythe Danner to death but whoever thought the horrible Jessica Alba could do comedy was taking drugs. The humor here is smarmy and based on cruelty to the characters. No problem with that, some of my favorite comedies and the first movie had that quality but again they were funny. There are the standard vomit, dick and sex jokes which can be funny if the movie has style but this one is dead and not funny at all. I kind of pity the families that all go together to see this especially with little kids.

The other problem is the kids aren't really focused on except for a section where Greg tries to get his kids into a top of the line grade school. It also doesn't help that the child actors playing the kids are horrible actors. I go back to the section that deals with the school. I kept waiting for some smart jokes and situations to come from this material but all you get is the son getting his arm broken. Ha!Ha! There is a horrible fist fight between Greg and Jack at the end and a lot of situations that occur that "Three's Company" did in the 70's and did ten times smarter. There is also a re-teaming of Deniro and Harvey Keitel which is a misfire and a wasted opportunity. All you get from that teaming is Greg dumping a truckload of sand and gravel on Jack. I also just love the making fun of the Jack character when he has a heart attack. Ha! Ha! Okay, the bottom line is that this is one stupid comedy that is lazy and doesn't have one big laugh at all. Streisand and Hoffman phone in their performances, Owen Wilson is the only one that tries and Ben Stiller looks tired and old. It is time to retire the series and anyone that does find this funny who I know can receive $5 from me. I am that certain that this movie will not make you laugh but only shake your head.