(In a span of a month, I was
able to watch a bunch of films in an actual cinema. Yes, you just launch your
ass to any random mall at a random Saturday night to date your GF. While I
never really minded the expensiveness of weekly cinema viewing (especially when
it’s 3D), it sucks when you watch crappy movies.
Sure, I’ve been watching a lot
of science fiction and fantasy movies. I normally won’t watch those kinds of
movies growing up because some abuse the effects and forget about the
storytelling but you need these flicks so that you’ll have an extra two hours
recreation that is not talking with each other in front of coffee.
I am going to grade the last
four movies I have seen: Narnia 3,
Little Fockers, Tron, and Gulliver’s Travels.
Will I spoil you once you read
my reviews? I should... and I could... but hopefully I won’t.)
Meet The Parents: Little
Fockers is
ideally the franchise’s swan song.
If it
was me, I’d say to the producers to let them do another one...
...
Because honestly, Little Fockers is not the right way to go.
I love
this franchise and I am a huge fan of the second instalment. While some would
say that the first Meet the Parents
was better than Meet the Fockers
(the second instalment), I like the second film better because I am a huge Dustin Hoffman fan). The first
introduced us to the characters of Gaylord
“Greg” Focker and the father of his one true love and the second introduced
us to the environment that Gaylord and his up and coming family will be in. The
third could have been Jack passing
the torch to Greg but there is
something lacking in the story.
Actually,
it’s a bit congested.
First
of all, having a bunch of characters made most of the characters barely
established. Sure Robert DeNiro and Ben Stiller did their best work, but
their crazy antics barely made up from their previous works. The most important
example is Dustin Hoffman. At first,
I thought that perhaps while filming the movie he and Robert DeNiro had a rift.
But it was certain that he couldn’t just fit in with the mix. The same can be
said to Barbra Streisand, who was
given a TV host job for her ideas to get important. Fact is, a TV hosting job
in a movie is one of the worst ways to give a character an interesting spot. Teri Polo and Blythe Danner were relegated to supporting roles which is bad for
Polo in particular since she is technically the leading lady of the movie. Owen Wilson returns while Jessica Alba was brought in to give the
franchise new blood but it seems their characters could have used a bit of
tinkering.
The
major casualties are the kids, who weren’t really given anything to work with
since their character development is too shallow. The movie is named Little
Fockers but except for their school application “skit”, they barely did much to
the story.
They
can actually make the kids babies in the movie because either way, they barely
did anything important in the story.
If I
was the writer of this movie, I’m going to make this simple and direct. Robert
DeNiro wants Ben Stiller to become the main man of the clan since his health is
declining and he’ll use the twins’ birthday party as the testing site. In the
movie, Teri Polo will have to contend on Barbra and Diane trying to teach her
how to parent her kids while Robert and Dustin bicker endlessly and makes Ben’s
life a living hell. Meanwhile, Ben would also take care of Owen Wilson’s
constant display of affection to his wife despite the fact that Owen has a hot
girl in his arms which should be played by Jessica Alba (whom Ben would find
himself drooling and smitten much to Robert DeNiro and Teri Polo’s chagrin).
Jessica will then talk to Teri about the pressures of raising a family and
whether or not she’s capable of raising one of her own.
I
think the best way of playing with a large ensemble is by keeping them
tight-knit. In the actual movie, there were a lot of situations that didn’t
started or ended well like Owen Wilson’s continuing love for Teri Polo, Dustin
and Barbra’s men-o-pause, the girl’s silent treatment to Ben, the boy’s
inability to be smart, their great school dreams, that silly black nurse, Harvey Keitel, Laura Dern, Andie Garcia’s (Jessica Alba’s character) flirting with
Greg, and the love between Greg and his missus.
The
erectile drug, reminded me of the American
Pie movies and I really found the gag a bit lame. Especially given the
actors involved in the bit.
By the way, here is a reason for men to love Teri Polo.
You can see her pictures in the net... or you can buy the issue!
I did
enjoy the end parts and the banter between Greg and Jack continues to be the
main asset of the movie. The way Greg became stoic and hell-bent to act as “The Godfocker” was funny as hell. Owen
Wilson was also a scene stealer in the movie and his super talented and yet
super loser-y ways were enough to drive laughs. Dustin Hoffman’s happy aura was
felt in his cameos and it would have been better if he got a little more screen
time. Jessica Alba’s quirky role is delightful as well and you can feel how the
people react when she tries to destroy Ben’s happy marriage but the fact is,
her act is predictable right from the start.
A
fourth instalment should be considered to give the movie the grand finish it
deserves. While it wasn’t really a bad movie, it just didn’t live up to the “epicness”
of the franchise. I can’t see them shortening up the cast but hopefully they
can connect the characters well in their next get-go.
Game
over.
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