Meet The Parents Trilogy

Staring: Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Teri Polo, Dustin Hoffman, Owen Wilson, Barbra Streisand, & Blythe Danner

Rating:
Meet The Parents: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars
Meet The Fockers: 4 out of 5 Stars
Little Fockers: 3 out of 5 stars

 Meet The Parents is based on the classic story that every guy worries about, meeting the girlfriends parents and in turn meeting the daughters boyfriend. This
trilogy really gives De Niro a chance to show that he does have a lighter side, as well as a terrific sense of humor. He's not someone who should be tight cast the way he usual is. Ben Stiller is another one who benefits from these films. To be honest, I always found his style rather annoying, until these films. For the first time I was finally able to get what people see in him and now look at his stuff through diffrents eyes.


As for the trilogy, this one doesn't fit the usual model. In general, the first one is the best, the second one goes in a totally different direction and sucks, while the third mixes the two and brings the series to a close. Here, The first one introduces us everyone and in the beginning is very slow. I actually walked out of it when it was in the theaters, because I was falling asleep! It wasn't until right before Meet The Fockers came out, when I saw the end on cable, that I realized how funny it actually was!

My favorite was the second one. You already had the charachters established and judged in the eyes of the audience and in this case they didn't change a thing! They took the same people and put them into an entirely new situation with only a couple of new people for us to meet and it works very well. Dustin Hoffman was truly hysterical and really makes the difference between 3 1/2 and 4 stars.

As for the most recent installment, Little Fockers, it wasn't as sophisticated as the other two. I wouldn't want my kids seeing either of the first two, but I'd have no problem taking them to Little Fockers. To be quite honest, they look like they may have started to run out of material and scrapped the bottom of the barrell to give us one more look at the Focker-Byrns partnership. It wasn't bad, but it definatly wasn't the higher class of humor you saw in the first two films.

All 3 films have the same charachters with the same personalities, they never change, the situations do, and that's what makes these films great! Most trilogies try to change charachters, add a ton of new charachters, kill charachters... there is none of that here. It introduces you to this couple and continues on along the natural path their lives take. Its a tremedous cast, very well written, and parts of it are very funny. I would definatly recommend seeing it!