HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — For more than a decade, one comedy franchise has celebrated the humor in the foibles and fractures we share with friends and family. Racking up a combined worldwide box office of more than $800 million, Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers introduced us to some of modern comedy’s most beloved characters. Now, the third installment of the enormously popular series turns an eye toward another of life’s milestones and its humorous impact on marriage and family: raising kids.
Welcome back to the comedic pleasure of watching Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) and Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) go head-to-head in Little Fockers. Joining De Niro and Stiller in the comedy is the returning all-star cast of Owen Wilson, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner and Academy Award winners Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand. For the latest chapter of the worldwide hit franchise, they are joined by Jessica Alba, Laura Dern and Harvey Keitel.
It all began in 2000 with the comic frustrations of male nurse Greg Focker as he tried to impress his girlfriend’s parents but ended up at odds with the formidable family patriarch, Jack Byrnes. Audiences across the globe responded to the pointed comedy and touching moments that reflected everyday challenges with family.
View: Little Fockers Premiere Red Carpet Photos
Lightning struck again when, in 2004, Greg introduced his unconventional parents to his WASP-y future in-laws and tried to manage a combustible situation without being removed from Jack’s circle of trust. The franchise exploded as moviegoers couldn’t get enough of Jack, Greg and both of their nutty clans. In fact, Meet the Fockers became the highest-grossing comedy in Universal Pictures’ history and ranks second only to Home Alone as the most successful live-action comedy ever at the domestic box office.
Now it’s time to meet the little Fockers—Samantha (Daisy Tahan of television’s Nurse Jackie) and Henry (Colin Baiocchi of Couples Retreat)—as the film delves into the trials and tribulations of the growing family, a natural progression for the series built on the time-honored rituals of dating, marriage and children.
It has taken 10 years, two little Fockers with wife Pam (Polo) and countless hurdles for Greg to finally get “in” with his tightly wound father-in-law, Jack. However, after the cash-strapped dad takes a job moonlighting for a drug company with a sexy co-worker, Jack’s suspicions come roaring back.
It couldn’t be a worse time for Greg, who is simultaneously juggling the demands of impressing the headmistress (Dern) of a prestigious private school for the twins and finessing his shady general contractor (Keitel)—whose repeated renovation delays on their dream home threaten to derail the kids’ birthday party—all while fending off the advances of the drop-dead gorgeous pharmaceutical rep (Alba) with whom Greg works.
As the Focker-Byrnes clan—Greg’s parents, Bernie (Hoffman) and Roz (Streisand), Jack and Dina (Danner)—and Pam’s lovelorn ex, Kevin (Wilson), descend for the birthday bash, Greg must prove to the skeptical Jack that he’s fully capable as the man of the house and designated Godfocker of the clan. But with all the misunderstandings, spying and covert missions, will Greg pass Jack’s final test and become the family’s next patriarch…or will the circle of trust be broken for good?
