Reviewed by Kate Rodger
Sometimes, and only sometimes, the shiny happy world of the entertainment reporter/film geek/film lover/film critic becomes a dark and depressing place, where the simple task of watching a film, just a short hour and 36 minutes inside a cinema, can feel like a life sentence, as her hopes and dreams, her joyous memories of great films gone by are dashed on the rocks of a movie so awful, it was all she could do not to leap up screaming at the screen... YOU TALKING TO ME?!
Think about this.
Robert De Niro; double Oscar-winning legend, who together with Martin Scorsese personified some of the iconic and enduring cinematic characters ever envisioned.
Dustin Hoffman; double Oscar-winning legend, who graduated to characters played as convincingly dressed as a woman as he was as a man.
Harvey Keitel; Oscar-nominee, early Scorsese favourite, later Tarantino’s, several enduring characters to his name including The Wolf.
Well for the price of a single movie ticket, you can have all three with Owen Wilson thrown in for good measure. Just don’t go saying I didn’t warn you.
Welcome to Meet the Parents: Little Fockers.
This is the third in this Focker franchise, and let it be known I wasn’t a fan of the first two. I will say there were at least a few laughs to be had in those, even guilty ones, and while I was still left yearning for Travis Bickle, at least I didn’t leave feeling postal.
Here, there is no bad set-up or joke left unturned, it’s imminent and disappointing punch-line telegraphed from what feels like an eternity before arrival. I gave up all hope of even a wry smile after the first hour, praying for it all soon to end.
Let’s try and find a reason to go.
Jessica Alba looking hot and pretending to be all sassy and down home-girl cool with the peeps? Maybe for some.
How ‘bout a scene with Ben Stiller injecting Robert De Niro’s penis? Aaah, nup?
Or maybe, at a stretch, Bob and Ben beating up on each other in a kids ball-pit to the Jaws theme? You still with me?
I know me going all grumpy on yo’ass isn’t the greatest way to end the year, nor the nicest of Christmas presents, but there have been so few films in the my lifetime as dull, as lame, as unnecessary, as ridiculous nor as soul-destroyingly unfunny as this latest Focker, that I can barely contain my loathing. Life. Is. Just. Too. Short.
Want a funnier watch than Little Fockers this Christmas? Rent Schindler’s List.
One star. Because it’s Christmas, and I’m in a giving mood.
3 News
Meet the Parents: Little Fockers
:: Director: Paul Weitz
:: Starring: Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Owen Wilson, Jessica Alba, Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman and Harvey Keitel
:: Running Time: 96 mins
:: Rating: M: sexual references
:: Release Date: December 23, 2010
