Meet the Fockers
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Meet the Fockers (2004) is a comedy film and a sequel to Meet the Parents starring Robert DeNiro and Ben Stiller. Both are directed by Jay Roach (Austin Powers). In addition to DeNiro and Stiller, Meet the Fockers has an all-star cast of Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner, Owen Wilson and Tim Blake Nelson.
The film satirizes both the extreme conservative and liberal ways of life and its release in a US presidential election year was seen as an intervention in the national debate.
The film also makes fun of the Ferber method of child rearing in which a child is left to cry until they learn to "self-comfort."
The makers demonstrated that the name Focker was an actual surname in use in North America in order to deflect accusations of profanity.
This film is number 25 on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies.
Synopsis
After being given permission to marry the daughter of a retired CIA agent, Gaylord "Greg" Focker, his fiancée Pam and her parents travel to Miami, Florida to meet his quirky liberal parents, Roz and Bernie Focker. The film features a new character, Little Jack, who is Pam's nephew, and Jack and Dina's grandchild. Jack tries to nurture his namesake grandchild.Characters
Gaylord "Greg" Focker (Ben Stiller): The protagonist of the movie. A nurse living in Chicago with girlfriend (now fiancée) Pam, attempts to marry the daughter of a retired CIA agent, however along the way gets into trouble and mischief. In his childhood, he had his foreskin saved, had a crush on his babysitter Isabel,(whom he eventually lost his virginity to) and often finished in mediocre fashion in competitive events which was displayed in the "Wall of Gaylord" his father built. His father calls him Gay or Gaylord which is a recurring joke within the film.Jack Byrnes (Robert DeNiro): Pam's father and Dina's husband. Even though he is retired, he is still very much in the CIA. Using his "CIA" connections, he was able to plan a surprise honeymoon for his second child, Debbie, and track down information on Pam's boyfriend Greg. He is also the inventor of a Motion Sensor Nanny-Cam, and the "Mannery Gland", an invention that lets Jack "breastfeed" L.J.. His coverup job is a retired florist/horticulturist. With an intense love for his family, Jack still has a distrust of Greg and goes so far as to proving it by taking desperate measures.
Pam Byrnes or Pamela "Martha Focker" (Teri Polo): Greg's fiancée. She is a second grade teacher in Chicago and lives with Greg. Before starting a relationship with Greg, she was engaged briefly to Kevin, whom she is still linked to.
Dina Byrnes (Blythe Danner): The wife of Jack Byrnes, and mother of Pam, Debbie and Denny. She balances the relationship with Jack as the soft spot, and the sympathetic voice of reason to her husband.
Roz Focker (Barbra Streisand): The mother of Greg Focker, who is a sex therapist for senior citizens in Miami and lives on "Focker Isle" with husband, Bernard. Loves her son intensely.
Bernard Focker (Dustin Hoffman): The father of Greg. He was an attorney for a brief period of time, but became a homemaker after the birth of his son. Bernie lives on "Focker Isle" in Miami, with his wife Roz. He claims to be a practitioner of capoeira, the Brazilian martial art of dance-fighting, but what he actually shows is only remotely similar to capoeira. His fondness for chimichangas is a recurring joke within the film. Loves his son intensely.
Little Jack (Spencer & Bradley Pickren): Jack's approximately 1-year-old grandson by his other daughter, Debbie. Jack is grooming him to be a genius using unconventional child rearing methods. He probably has the youngest speaking part in films which manifests in the form of baby sign language and the expletive asshole, which he accidentally picked up from Greg.
Isabel Villalobos (Alanna Ubach): Former housekeeper and babysitter of the Fockers and current owner of a catering business. She had a brief fling with Greg when he was nineteen years old which resulted in Greg losing his virginity to her. This affair led Jack to suspect that Greg may be the father of her child. Although in the film, Isabel is assumed to be approximately 5 or more years older than Greg, in real life, Alanna Ubach is ten years younger than Ben Stiller.
Jorge Villalobos (Ray Santiago): The fifteen-year-old son of Isabel, Greg's former babysitter and confidante. He is a mechanical prodigy with a reputation for being able fix anything. Jorge is also a liar, but his most definable attribute is his uncanny resemblance to Greg and the aforementioned person's antics, which leads Jack to believe that Greg is his father. Another recurring joke in the film is that either Greg or Jorge look like a "young, Jewish/Hispanic Marlon Brando." It turns out his father is former Major League Baseball player Rusty Bridges, also played by Stiller.
Moses: The Fockers' pet chihuahua. He has the sublime ability and urge... to mate with everything and anything that moves. From Little Jack's Einstein doll, to Dina's foot, to Mr. Jinx (the Byrnes' cat who can use the toilet), he will attempt to mate with just about anything and everything.
Mr. Jinx: The Byrnes' pet cat. He is able to use the toilet and has extensive aquatic training. He once flushed Moses (The Fockers' chihuahua) down the toilet in the Byrnes' trailer.
Box office
- The film was a huge box office hit, grossing more than $40,000,000 two weekends in a row. It went on to make $279.2m in the US, bringing its worldwide total to a staggering $515.2m.
Trivia
- When Greg and Pam arrive at the O'Hare International Airport airport to go to New York to visit Jack and Dina, they depart on an ATA Airlines airplane, and ATA Airlines does not fly from O'Hare International Airport.
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