Little Fockers

''Little Fockers'' (known as ''Meet the Parents: Little Fockers'' in the United Kingdom and Southeast Asia) is a 2010 American romantic comedy film and the third film in the ''Meet the Parents'' film series, serving as a sequel to '' Meet the Parents'' (2000) and '' Meet the Fockers'' (2004). Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, and Thomas McCarthy reprise their roles from previous films, with Jessica Alba, Laura Dern, Kevin Hart and Harvey Keitel joining the cast.

After the commercial success of the first two films in the franchise, both De Niro and Stiller received a remuneration of $20 million for their roles in ''Little Fockers'', en route to a $100 million production budget. Although the film grossed $310 million worldwide, it earned less than its predecessors and was panned by critics.
A sequel is in production scheduled for a 2026 release.

Plot

Five years after the events of the previous film, Greg Focker and his wife Pam are preparing to celebrate the fifth birthday of their twins Samantha and Henry. They are planning on moving to a new house. However, things seem to go awry for Greg when his in-laws, Jack and Dina Byrnes, visit them, and Jack announces he is looking for his successor as the head of the Byrnes family.

Recently, Jack has been diagnosed with a heart condition and has become embittered by his daughter Debbie's divorce from her husband Bob—their marriage was the social event of the first film, and how he and Greg met—for cheating on her with a nurse. Jack's original plan was to declare Bob his successor, but he decides to pass the role to Greg, naming him "The Godfocker".

Despite Greg reluctantly accepting the role, Jack remains skeptical and begins to suspect Greg of infidelity when he sees him with drug representative Andi Garcia, who openly flirts with him. The presence of Sustengo, an erectile dysfunction drug that Greg promotes as a side job, also prompts Jack to think he is no longer sexually attracted to Pam. Furthermore, he starts to doubt his ability to provide for his family when he's initially reluctant to send his children to a private school.

During a medical conference promoting Sustengo, Greg meets Bob at a bar, and he tells him of Jack's original intention to name him "The Bobfather" as his successor. His relief and happiness at leaving Jack's family make Greg slightly uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Jack tries to convince Pam to consider divorcing Greg and renewing her relationship with her ex-fiancé Kevin Rawley, whom Jack thinks is more financially and personally suitable for her.

Eventually, following a confrontation with Jack at a clinic, Greg escapes to his and Pam's unfinished new house, where Andi shows up. She tries to cheer him up with Chinese food and wine but drinks too much and makes an extremely aggressive sexual advance on Greg after taking too many Sustengo pills.

Jack, looking for Greg to apologize and bring him home, pulls up to the house and sees through the window what looks like Greg and Andi having sex, although Greg is trying to rebuff Andi's advances. Disgusted, Jack leaves and tells Dina and Pam he could not find him.

Greg's parents, Bernie and Roz, rejoin the family the next day at the twins' birthday party. Enraged at Greg's apparent infidelity, Jack engages him in a physical fight, despite Greg insisting that he was rejecting Andi. The fight ends with Jack having a heart attack and collapsing. Greg quickly takes charge of the situation, looking after Jack.

As paramedics take him away, Jack quietly admits that he believes Greg after observing his carotid artery remaining stable while Greg is proclaiming his innocence. Impressed with his integrity and quick thinking, Jack approves of him to be "The Gregfocker".

Four months later, on Christmas Day, Greg and Pam's parents celebrate the holidays with them in their new house. Greg's parents, being Jewish, give Jack a kippah as a present, informing him that they traced his family roots and discovered that he is part Jewish.

Bernie then informs Greg and Pam that he and Roz have sold their Miami home and are moving to Chicago, only two houses away from theirs. Jack and Dina decide that they will move too because they also want to be close to their grandchildren. Greg and Pam try to wean their respective parents off the idea.

In the closing credits, Jack views YouTube videos of Greg publicly mocking him during a speech promoting Sustengo.

Cast

Production

Production on ''Little Fockers'' began July 2009.

Writer John Hamburg stated that the film would deal with "themes of death and divorce and all these real things that, as we get older, we start to think about, but in a really comical way".

Outside the United States, it is the first film in the series to be released by Paramount Pictures, whose 2006 acquisition of the DreamWorks back-catalog included co-ownership of and sequel rights to the ''Meet the Parents'' franchise. DreamWorks remains a copyright co-holder, as "DW Studios", with Universal Pictures.

On August 24, 2010, it was announced that Dustin Hoffman would be reprising his role as Greg's father, Bernie Focker. The studio failed to reach salary terms with Hoffman until principal photography had wrapped. As a result, his role in the film is significantly smaller than that in the previous entry.

Release

In January 2010, the release date for the film was pushed back from July 30, 2010, to December 22, 2010, nominally because Universal hoped to benefit from the long Christmas weekend; it was later revealed to be deliberately delayed only because it was at the time of the delay announcement that Hoffman elected to reprise his character, and the producers had to adjust the filming schedule to accommodate for the filming of his scenes, keeping the announcement secret until the aforementioned August reveal.

The first trailer was released June 24, 2010, preceding showings of '' Grown Ups'' and '' Dinner for Schmucks''. A second trailer, released November 10, 2010, was attached to ''Morning Glory'', '' Unstoppable'' and ''Skyline''. The film was released in the UK and US on December 22, 2010.

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, ''Little Fockers'' has an approval rating of 9%, based on 149 reviews, with an average rating of 3.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "As star-studded as it is heartbreakingly lazy, ''Little Fockers'' takes the top-grossing trilogy to embarrassing new lows." On Metacritic, the film scored 27 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on a scale of A+ to F. On each of the three websites, it is Streisand's lowest-rated film.

''Empire'' magazine gave the film two stars out of five. Its conclusion: "There are inevitably moments when Hoffman or Wilson get a laugh, but on the whole, it’s the same again, but weaker and with fewer good jokes."

Box office performance

''Little Fockers'' failed to match the opening-weekend gross of its predecessor, '' Meet the Fockers''. It opened with $30.8 million during its opening weekend on approximately 5,000 screens at 3,536 locations across US and Canada. Overall, its five-day opening generated a total of $48.3 million. By comparison, ''Meet the Fockers'' made $46.1 million during the same weekend in 2004, for a five-day total of $70.5 million. ''Little Fockers'' grossed $148.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $162.2 million from other countries around the world, for a worldwide total of $310.7 million, making it the lowest-grossing film in the trilogy.

Accolades

Home media

''Little Fockers'' was released on DVD and Blu-ray April 5, 2011.

Sequel

A sequel to the film, Meet the Parents 4 is scheduled for release in 2026.

References

External links

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''Little Fockers''
at Metacritic
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{{Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress

2010 comedy films
2010 films
2010s American films
2010s English-language films
American Christmas films
American comedy films
American sequel films
DreamWorks Pictures films
Films about dysfunctional families
Films directed by Paul Weitz
Films produced by Robert De Niro
Films scored by Stephen Trask
Films set in Chicago
Films set in Spain
Films shot in Chicago
Films with screenplays by John Hamburg
Golden Raspberry Award–winning films
Hanukkah films
Meet the Parents (film series)
Midlife crisis films
Paramount Pictures films
Relativity Media films
Universal Pictures films