Film Review: Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller Seem Bored in ‘Little Fockers’

CHICAGO – The Law of Diminishing Returns is alive and well in the “Meet the Parents” Franchise, as the third film in the series, “Little Fockers,” has a lazy, we-did-it-for-the-money veneer. They got the gang back together, Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Barbra Streisand and the rest, but with few exceptions they all seem bored with it all.

Rating: 2.0/5.0

Ben Stiller is Gaylord “Greg” Focker, now a nurse administrator for a Chicago hospital. His wife Pam (Teri Polo) stays home with their precocious twins, the little Fockers of the title. Greg’s contrary father-in-law, Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro), suffers a minor heart attack and decides that a new Byrnes patriarch must be designated. He taps Greg for the job.

While this bit of news settles in, Greg also has to deal with a pharmaceutical salesperson at work named Andi Garcia (Jessica Alba), who wants him to represent a new erectile dysfunction drug at a series of conferences. There closeness in working together arouses Jack’s ire, who begins to suspect that Greg is having an affair with the drug rep, and begins using his covert operation techniques to determine the truth of the matter.

At the same time Greg’s arch nemesis, Kevin Rawley (Owen Wilson), comes back to Chicago after a busted engagement. He still carries a crush for Pam, and his heroic homecoming in the midst of Jack’s search for a new Byrnes patriarch throws another wrench into Greg’s difficult relationship with his father-in-law. All the factors come together at the Focker twins’ birthday party, hosted lavishly by Kevin, and featuring Greg’s parents (Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand) and the culmination (hopefully) of the Focker’s legend.

“Little Fockers” opens everywhere December 22nd. Featuring Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Laura Dern, Jessica Alba and Harvey Keitel. Screenplay by John Hamburg and Larry Stuckey, directed by Paul Weitz. Rated “PG-13”.