REVIEW: 'Meet the Parents: Little Fockers'

The third film in the Meet the Parents series is set 10 years later, when the Fockers have twin kids and Greg (Ben Stiller) is only just starting to gel with his father-in-law, Jack (Robert De Niro). Now playing nationwide. Click here for session info.
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The early appearance of Deepak Chopra should have been a warning. After all, his last "comedic" appearance was in Mike Myers' truly execrable The Love Guru. Sure enough the omen was spot on and lightning does strike twice because Little Fockers is about as dire a comedy as you're likely to see all decade.

Sure, it's populated by a starry cast but most of them don't even interact with each other and some take the idea of phoning in a performance almost literally. Also, many don't even seem to be in the same movie. Alba appears to be auditioning for a remake of Fatal Attraction, Keitel looks like he stepped on set for a day while on holiday, while Stiller himself just looks uninspired by the whole thing.

As usual with these "family values" comedies, the puritanical mixes with the puerile and you can guarantee at least one male lead is going to take a blow to the crotch. And while normally it's Stiller taking one for the team, here it's De Niro who suffers most of the indignities. If you hold dear the memory of the man who was once Jake La Motta and Travis Bickle then you should give a wide berth to a film where he gets a drug-enhanced boner, uses a polygraph as a defibrillator and engages in a Jaws parody in a kiddie's ball pit.

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