Blu-Ray Review: Horrendous ‘Little Fockers’ Could Be Used as Torture

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly versionE-mail page to friendE-mail page to friendPDF versionPDF version
No votes yet

CHICAGO – “Little Fockers” would have been high on my “Worst of 2010” list if I had written one or suffered through it in theaters. It’s an awful disaster of a movie, completely devoid of laughs and downright embarrassing for everyone involved, including some incredibly talented actors. There should be some sort of atonement or movie prison for forcing this junk on families at the holiday season. It’s like getting coal for Christmas. Actually, it’s worse than coal.

HollywoodChicago.com Blu-Ray Rating: 0.5/5.0
Blu-Ray Rating: 0.5/5.0

“Little Fockers” is not just completely devoid of laughs, it’s baffling that anyone this talented thought otherwise. It makes one wonder if it’s not some sort of massive piece of performance art on the part of the clearly-intelligent Ben Stiller — What’s the worst comedy that I could possibly make and still get people to the theaters for a sequel at the holiday season? “Little Fockers” made more than $300 million worldwide but that was significantly down from “Meet the Fockers” and even less than “Meet the Parents.” The 9% on Rotten Tomatoes probably didn’t help. Maybe not as many people fell for the performance art as Stiller thought would.

Little Fockers was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on April 5th, 2011
Little Fockers was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on April 5th, 2011
Photo credit: Universal Home Video

The first “Meet the Parents” was a reasonably clever take on a situation every married man has faced in his life — meeting and trying to impress the in-laws. It played off both the awkward persona of Stiller and the tough guy attitude of Robert De Niro. Owen Wilson nearly stole the movie, Teri Polo was charming enough, and the movie was a surprise hit. The sequel introduced the “Fockers,” the parents of Stiller’s character, played by Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman and, while it was mostly creatively bankrupt, just seeing Dustin and Babs having as much fun as they clearly did in the making of it had a bit of infectious charm.

Little Fockers was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on April 5th, 2011
Little Fockers was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on April 5th, 2011
Photo credit: Universal Home Video

All of that charm is gone, replaced by physical humor, horrible editing, and erect penis jokes. What’s funny about Stiller jabbing De Niro’s penis with a needle to get it down? What’s hilarious about cutting off your finger while carving a turkey and spraying blood all over the table? Did ANYONE laugh when the boy puked on his dad or asked if a girl could poop from her vagina? “Little Fockers” alternates from being boring to being truly embarrassing. And the fact that Harvey Keitel and Laura Dern got sucked into this mess is depressing. (Seeing Keitel & De Niro’s “Taxi Driver” released on Blu-ray on the same day is a kind of tragedy…like looking at yearbook photos of someone who has really let himself go since school). I even feel bad for Jessica Alba. And I saw “Good Luck Chuck” and “The Love Guru.”

The first half of “Little Fockers” might make fans of the legendary stars feel a little sad for the people involved and wondering why they signed on but, by the end, you’ll just be angry or bored, depending on how much you value your personal time. I’ve been very forgiving of Stiller, Wilson, and even De Niro’s bad career choices in the past, but this one is unforgivable. It goes beyond being merely a bad comedy to truly offensive.

The alternate ending, alternate opening, deleted scenes, and now-legendary story about how Dustin Hoffman wasn’t even in the film until after it had already been shot (his insertion via phone or ditching out just before a party is hysterically obvious) make it clear that there was no creative impulse behind making this film. It’s a product, a way to make more money off a brand name. They should be ashamed.

Special Features:
o Hilarious Gag Reel
o Alternate Opening & Ending Not Seen in Theatres
o Deleted Scenes
o The Making Of The Godfocker
o Digital Copy
o BD Live Enabled
o Pocket Blu

“Little Fockers” stars Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner, Laura Dern, Jessica Alba, Harvey Keitel, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, and Owen Wilson. It was written by John Hamburg & Larry Stuckey and directed by Paul Weitz. It was released on Blu-ray and DVD on April 5th, 2011. It is rated PG-13 and runs 98 minutes.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

User Login

Free Giveaway Mailing

TV, DVD, BLU-RAY & THEATER REVIEWS

  • Manhunt

    CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.

  • Topdog/Underdog, Invictus Theatre

    CHICAGO – When two brothers confront the sins of each other and it expands into a psychology of an entire race, it’s at a stage play found in Chicago’s Invictus Theatre Company production of “Topdog/Underdog,” now at their new home at the Windy City Playhouse through March 31st, 2024. Click TD/UD for tickets/info.

Advertisement



HollywoodChicago.com on Twitter

archive

HollywoodChicago.com Top Ten Discussions
tracker