Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

58 (Untitled)
96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
39 Adventures of Power
66 Afterschool
73 Amreeka
49 Antichrist
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
71 Big Fan
65 Black Dynamite
76 Bliss
26 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
44 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81 Bright Star
76 Broken Embraces
70 Bronson
62 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
60 Collapse
82 Cove, The
75 Crude
82 Damned United, The
53 Dare
50 Defamation
67 Departures
70 Earth Days
85 Education, An
55 Endgame
88 Fantastic Mr. Fox
31 Fix
49 Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80 Food, Inc.
xx From Mexico with Love
28 Gentlemen Broncos
72 Good Hair
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Horse Boy, The
74 House of the Devil, The
xx How to Seduce Difficult Women
26 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
70 It Might Get Loud
46 Killing Kasztner
43 Little Traitor, The
34 Looking for Palladin
80 Lorna's Silence
46 Love Hurts
84 Maid, The
45 Mammoth
75 Messenger, The
55 Missing Person, The
59 More Than a Game
34 Motherhood
62 My One and Only
48 New York, I Love You
66 No Impact Man
26 Oh My God
68 Paranormal Activity
68 Paris
79 Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73 Red Cliff
69 September Issue, The
79 Serious Man, A
65 Skin
41 Splinterheads
42 Staten Island
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
58 Storm
82 Sun, The
49 Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon
73 That Evening Sun
61 Trucker
49 Turning Green
83 U2 3D
45 Uncertainty
67 Visual Acoustics
32 War on Kids
67 Way We Get By, The
65 Wedding Song, The
xx White on Rice
59 William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
74 Woman in Berlin, A
43 Women in Trouble
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Meet the Fockers

EMAILPRINTUniversal Pictures

Meet the Fockers reviews
41
5.9 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 34 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 90 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Comedy

Written by: John Hamburg
James Herzfeld (also story)
Marc Hyman (story)

Directed by: Jay Roach

Release Date:
Theatrical: December 22, 2004
DVD: April 19, 2005

Running Time: minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, language and a brief drug reference

Starring Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Owen Wilson, and Spencer & Bradley Pickren

Now that Greg Focker (Stiller) is "in" with his soon-to-be in-laws, Jack (De Niro) and Dina (Danner) Byrnes, it looks like smooth sailing for him and his fiancée, Pam (Polo). But that's before Pam's parents meet Greg's parents, Bernie and Roz Focker (Hoffman and Streisand). The hyper-relaxed Fockers and the tightly-wound Byrneses are woefully mismatched from the start, and no matter how hard Greg and Pam try, there is just no bringing their families together-which all adds up to a disastrously funny time of "getting to know you." (Universal)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

70

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

One of those relatively rare comedies that's at once puerile, charming and very funny throughout.

Read Full Review >
67

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The old-pro twosome of Streisand and Hoffman make such sexy and inviting ethnics (as a certain kind of movie likes to think of a certain kind of Jewish character) that they blithely prevail over the been-there-done-that gags.

Read Full Review >
63

Premiere Aaron Hillis

De Niro is constantly upstaged by the showstopping, sunburnt duo of Streisand and Hoffman, but even their material is so recycled (more Focker puns, etc.) that it doesn’t matter who steals the most chuckles.

Read Full Review >
63

USA Today Claudia Puig

It's a silly good time, and that's something these days.

Read Full Review >
60

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The movie gets off to a weak start, but the jokes get progressively more bent.

Read Full Review >
60

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Ms. Streisand hasn't been called on to deliver an immortal or even interesting performance, but she is a pip to watch.

Read Full Review >
60

Village Voice Dennis Lim

For a Ben Stiller rom-com, there's remarkably little pain and humiliation. Which, for the most part, is not a good thing.

Read Full Review >
60

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

It's left to Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman as Greg's parents to warm up the picture, and they light it on fire. Indeed, they're having such a swell time as Roz and Bernie Focker that they seem to be in an entirely different movie--a funnier one, a sexier one and a smarter one.

Read Full Review >
50

Boston Globe Ty Burr

What a waste.

Read Full Review >
50

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

If there's any reason to bother with Meet the Fockers, it's to see Hoffman and Streisand.

Read Full Review >
50

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie is pleasant enough, but never quite reaches critical mass as a comedy.

Read Full Review >
50

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The problem lies in the screenplay which latches on to the few clever and/or funny elements in the film and runs them into the ground via repetition.

Read Full Review >
50

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Remember Pam? Lost in the Himalayas of big egos and overacting, she's the invisible character here. If they create a special Oscar for the most thankless part in an ensemble comedy, Teri Polo is a shoe-in.

Read Full Review >
50

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Too much of this lame comedy feels like it was written to satisfy a contract, with gags (like the business with the perpetually horny dog or the toddler who knows sign language) that are way beneath the talents of this cast.

Read Full Review >
50

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

A sluggish sequel.

Read Full Review >
50

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The picture doesn't come close to approaching the near-classic quality of the earlier film.

Read Full Review >
50

New York Post Lou Lumenick

It says a lot about the sequel that the funniest moment belongs to none of the big stars, but to Owen Wilson.

Read Full Review >
50

Chicago Tribune Allison Benedikt

Though it's hard not to play it, the expectations game is a dangerous one, especially for sequels. And Roach's original, just like his overexposed star, set us up good.

Read Full Review >
50

The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden

Feels jammed into a sitcom-shaped bid for laughs.

Read Full Review >
50

Slate David Edelstein

From the start the jokes are on a different level than the last one: coarse, aggressive, and poorly timed by director Jay Roach.

Read Full Review >
50

Variety Todd McCarthy

Te laughs "Fockers" generates are the type you feel embarrassed about almost immediately afterward.

Read Full Review >
42

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

How the mighty (De Niro and Hoffman) have fallen? More like how the mighty have pile-driven themselves into the solid mass of rock at the core of the Earth. . . .

Read Full Review >
40

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Danner, whose Dina actually resembles a human being, would be its saving grace if her gracefully controlled performance weren't lost in a sea of braying caricatures.

Read Full Review >
40

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Does Meet the Fockers make you laugh? Sure it does, from time to time. Just lower your expectations to the altitude of the gag that's showcased in the trailer, the one in which Jinx the cat flushes a little dog named Moses down a toilet.

40

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

The abundance of talent gathered for Meet the Fockers is sadly shortchanged by the unimaginative script and directorial laissez faire. It’s more like the audience has been snookered rather than Fockered.

Read Full Review >
40

Empire Olly Richards

A few laughs are salvaged due to the sheer quality of the talent present.

Read Full Review >
40

LA Weekly David Chute

Feels like a big-budget "Dharma & Greg" episode with toilet jokes.

Read Full Review >
40

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

Director Jay Roach continues his regrettable "Austin Powers" habit of beating the same shtick to death until nothing of comedy value remains.

Read Full Review >
38

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Meet the Fockers? Avoid them would be a better suggestion.

Read Full Review >
30

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

The cast is too good for the script and the script is too good for the director and the director is too good for the horny dog jokes.

Read Full Review >
25

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Many regular moviegoers will be appalled by its gleeful crudity and saddened by the spectacle of three icon stars mugging through a farce that's not that many notches above "Jackass: The Movie."

Read Full Review >
25

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

De Niro and Hoffman almost give comic life to this brainless, vulgar farce.

Read Full Review >
20

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Meet The Fockers has assembled a historic, once-in-a-lifetime cast, then stranded them in the laziest, most mercenary kind of sequel imaginable. It's like the 1927 Yankees taking on the Special Olympics softball team.

Read Full Review >
10

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Don't even rent the DVD, it'll only encourage them.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 5.9 (out of 10) based on 90 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

B M. gave it a0:
Meet the Parents is one of my favorite comedies. This sequel is so appallingly bad I wish I could erase it from memory. I'm not sure what audience they were going after but they abandoned all the fans of the original. If you find the sex life of old people amusing then this might be for you but seriously, how long can you laugh at the same stuff again and again. Avoid this gutter trash and, unlike the original, definitely don't let your kids watch it. They'll just get depressed (and disgusted).

Van B. gave it a3:
If you never tire of all of the sex and bathroom humor spewing forth every night on TV sitcoms, then this is the movie for you. This movie abandons the original and creative comedy of "Meet the Parents", in favor of the same old "potty" humor we see everywhere else. About the only cheap comedy gag they didn't use was dressing men in women's clothing, but I'm sure if they would have thought of it, we'd have seen DeNiro in drag.

Tony B. gave it a0:
Devoid of any real humor and without any class, this is, except for the luminous and wasted Blythe Danner, a truly dreadful film.

g marocco gave it a3:
About 1/10 of the laughs of Meet the Parents.

Miriam M gave it a2:
Meet the parents was brilliant. Why'd they have to ruin it? Over the top with the sex jokes.

Gary G. gave it an8:
Excellent cast with a middling script provides plenty of silly laughs. Hoffman & Striesand are effortless, while DeNiro's continuing self-parody actually works here.

Nikki G gave it a10:
Totally fantastic, I've never laughed so much in my laugh! Brilliant funny movie. One of the best I have ever seen.

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy (UPDATED) | Terms of Use