Little Fockers

The 'Focker' franchise is built on the bulletproof comedic foundation that "Focker" sounds suspiciously like "f*cker". Hardy, har, har. Now that's just hilarious. It's just so darned punny I don't know if I can hold my laughter in.

When I heard that they were making another 'Focker' film I couldn't believe my focking ears. Really? Do we really need another film about Gaylord Focker and his overly paranoid father-in-law? Are we that starved for hilarious cinematic stories that we need to revisit this inane family every few years?

This time Greg (Ben Stiller) has become head nurse at whatever hospital he works at. Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) is angry at his ex-son-in-law Dr. Bob, because Dr. Bob has been having an affair. This makes Jack acutely aware of Greg's marriage. It just so happens that Andi Garcia (Jessica Alba), a sexy new drug company representative, has sauntered into Greg's life. Just in time to make everything completely awkward with a series of ridiculous misunderstandings.

Jack doesn't want anyone in the family to know that he's having heart troubles, so he confides in Greg. In order to throw one more pun into the mix, Jack has a conversation with Greg indicating to him that he's going to become the "God Focker" in case anything were to happen to him.

The title 'Little Fockers' would have you believe that the focus is going to be on Greg's kids, but curiously they aren't in the movie very much at all. The family is trying to plan a big birthday party for the twins, and that's about it for the kids' involvement.

Owen Wilson reprises his role as the doofy multi-millionaire Kevin Rawley who's still deeply in love with Greg's wife, and still dreadfully unfunny.

This movie is just painful to endure. It's agonizing to see the great Robert De Niro stuck in a role that requires him to argue with Ben Stiller while having a massive erection. What's even sadder is I'm starting to remember Robert De Niro as that guy from the 'Focker' movies instead of that guy from 'The Godfather II' and 'Raging Bull.'

It's excruciating to watch the series of slapstick scenes that don't even carry a chuckle along with them. It's boring to watch the same jokes rehashed over and over. "No, I'm looking at you." "Well, I'm watching you too buddy." "Uh, uh, because I'm watching you first. See this little hand thing I'm doing?" Blech.

I've seen a lot of unfunny comedies in my time, but at least many of them tried to be funny and just missed the mark. It's like 'Little Fockers' doesn't even care. Like it should be re-titled 'Little Fockers: Focking Paychecks Baby!'

'Little Fockers' features a 1080p image helped along by a VC-1 encode. The transfer is, like many other comedies that have come before it on Blu-ray, satisfactory but overly saturated.

Skintones take on an orange hue, as the overcooked look of the movie burns on throughout. Contrast is pretty unpredictable at times, with darker scenes appearing flat and gloomy. Blacks are pretty crushing here whenever they get a hold of details. Lighter scenes are better looking, with contrast becoming more consistent. Close-ups hold quite a bit of facial detail like fine eyebrows and pores. Soft shots persist throughout the movie, and become pretty bothersome later on during the birthday party. Other issues like banding, and aliasing stay away.

There's nothing demo-worthy about this presentation, but it will probably please the film's one or two fans.

Equally uncompelling is the 'Little Fockers' DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound track.

Dialogue is clearly produced through the front and center channels. The generic sounding score is just about the only part of the track that gets real surround treatment. There's a few bits here and there, like during the party, where you can hear people milling about in the rear channels. Other than that though, the rear channels are pretty quiet. LFE comes and goes without much fan fare.

All in all, a very generic sounding mix for a very generic movie.

• The Making of a Godfocker (HD, 15 min.) — Director Paul Weitz navigates through a promo-style interview featurette with the actors and others involved with the film.


• Deleted Scenes (HD, 14 min.) — There are ten deleted scenes, but just like the movie, they aren't worth discussing at all.


• Alternate Scenes (HD, 7 min.) — There is an alternate opening and an alternate ending included here.


• Gag Reel (HD, 7 min.) — Another standard gag reel, with flubbed lines and such.


• Bout Time (HD, 4 min.) — A semi-funny aside with Jack and Greg.


• The Focker Foot Locker (HD, 2 min.) — How many times can they say "Focker"? Here's your chance to find out.

'Little Fockers' isn't even remotely funny. Seldom does a comedy make me as sad and depressed as this one did. This is a sorry excuse for a movie. The audio and video are about average for this kind of "comedic" fare. With a handful of throw-away special features, you can count this as one of those movies that you should avoid.