Clash Of The In-Laws

Last updated: 09/10/2006 - 12:52

Four years ago, audiences witnessed Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) as he met his fiancée’s parents. Now the pair are to be wed: providing the future in-laws can survive a weekend together!

Meet The Fockers

Four years ago, cinema audiences were invited to come along with male nurse Greg (a.k.a. Gaylord) Focker (Ben Stiller) on a weekend as he lost his luggage, set the backyard on fire, went a little over-the-top in a game of water volleyball, spray painted the cat and was administered a lie-detector test by Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro), his girlfriend’s father - who turned out to be not a horticulturalist, but an ex-CIA operative reluctant to allow Greg into ‘The Byrnes Family Circle of Trust’ - in the blockbuster comedy Meet the Parents. The film became the runaway hit of 2000/2001, tallying more than $300 million worldwide.

Now, Greg has managed to earn his way inside the 'Circle of Trust' and things are going great. He and his fiancée Pam (Teri Polo) are excitedly planning their wedding and there’s only one tiny, itsy-bitsy little thing left to smooth the way to the altar: the future in-laws need to spend a weekend together.

So, Greg and Pam climb aboard Jack’s new state-of-the-art RV (with the Kevlar-reinforced hull and the two-inch Plexiglas windows) for a trip to Focker Isle, the Cocoanut Grove domicile of Bernie and Roz Focker - played by two people with enormous numbers of roles on their collective CVs: Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand. The next 48 hours will provide the parents of the intended bride and groom a little time to get to know each other, but more importantly, give Jack the opportunity to study Greg’s parents.

Things start off well enough, but that’s before Jack discovers that the lawyer and doctor Greg presented are, in fact, a liberal stay-at-home dad and a senior citizens’ sex therapist. Then there’s the RV toilet episode, the overly zealous game of touch football, the saucy Cuban caterer with the secret, the incident with the toddler and the glue...

Ready or not, it’s time to Meet the Focker…it’s just one weekend together. What could possibly go wrong?

In-Laws To Be

The makers and stars behind the runaway hit of 2000, Meet the Parents, are re-united - and joined by some formidable future in-laws - in the follow-up comedy, Meet the Fockers. Returning to the roles they originated in Meet the Parents are Robert De Niro as Byrnes clan patriarch, Jack; Ben Stiller, as the soon-to-be son-in-law, Greg Focker; Blythe Danner as Jack’s wife, Dina; and Teri Polo as Greg’s intended, Pam Byrnes. And joining as Greg’s inimitable parents, Bernie and Roz, the Fockers, are Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand.

Director and producer Jay Roach (Meet the Parents, Austin Powers in Goldmember) returns to the helm, along with screenwriters Jim Herzfeld (Meet the Parents) and John Hamburg Along Came Polly, Meet the Parents); the story is by Herzfeld and Marc Hyman (The Perfect Score). Meet the Fockers is produced by Jane Rosenthal About a Boy, Meet the Parents), Robert De Niro and Jay Roach, and is based on characters created by Greg Glienna & Mary Ruth Clarke (Meet the Parents).

The behind-the-camera roster of talent includes Meet the Parents alumni, as well as new additions to the family: director of photography John Schwartzman, A.S.C. (Seabiscuit, The Rookie); production designer Rusty Smith (Elf, Meet the Parents); Editors Jon Poll (Austin Powers in Goldmember, Meet The Parents) And Lee Haxall (television’s Arrested Development and Hack); costume designer Carol Ramsey (Dodgeball, Scary Movie 3); and composer Randy Newman (Monsters, Inc., Meet the Parents). Nancy Tenenbaum (Pop Life, Meet the Parents) and Amy Sayres (Secondhand Lions, Meet the Parents) serve as executive producers.

The first film in this series - Meet The Fokkers (pictured, left) - is available now as a special edition DVD which includes never-seen-before extras - including a hilarious karaoke scene with Robert De Niro, no less than thirty-five out-takes and an insight into how Jinx the Cat was trained to perform tricks in the film. A new cast interview reveals the inside story of Greg and Pam’s disaster-prone romance and the hilarious events leading up to the outrageous sequel.

Meet the Fockers is also out now on DVD, certificate 12A.