Little Fockers
Little Fockers (known as Meet the Parents: Little Fockers in the United Kingdom and Southeast Asia) is a 2010 American romantic comedy film, and the third and final film in the Meet the Parents film series, serving as a sequel to Meet the Parents (2000) and Meet the Fockers (2004). The film stars Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Jessica Alba, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand.
Little Fockers
- John Hamburg
- Larry Stuckey
Characters
by Greg Glienna
Mary Ruth Clarke
- Jane Rosenthal
- Robert De Niro
- Jay Roach
- John Hamburg
- Greg Hayden
- Leslie Jones
- Myron Kerstein
- DreamWorks Pictures[a]
- Relativity Media
- TriBeCa Productions
- Everyman Pictures
- Universal Pictures (North America)
- Paramount Pictures (International)
- December 22, 2010 (United States)
98 minutes
United States
English
$100 million
$310.7 million[1]
After the commercial success of the first two films in the franchise, both De Niro and Stiller received a remuneration of $20 million for their roles in Little Fockers.
In addition to the original cast, Little Fockers features Jessica Alba, Laura Dern, Kevin Hart and Harvey Keitel. Although the film was a box-office success, grossing over $310 million worldwide, it earned less than its predecessors, and was panned by critics.
Plot[edit]
Five years after the events of the previous film, Gaylord "Greg" Focker and his wife Pam are preparing to celebrate their twins Samantha and Henry's fifth birthday. However, things seem to go awry for Greg when his in-laws, Jack and Dina Byrnes, visit them, and Jack announces he is looking for his successor as the head of the Byrnes family. Recently, Jack has been diagnosed with a heart condition, and has become embittered by his daughter Debbie's divorce from her husband Bob — their marriage was the social event of the first film, and how he and Greg met — for cheating on her with a nurse. Jack's original plan was to declare Bob his successor, but he decides to pass the role to Greg, naming him "The Godfocker".
Despite Greg reluctantly accepting the role, Jack remains skeptical and begins to suspect Greg of infidelity when he sees him with drug representative Andi Garcia, who openly flirts with him. The presence of Sustengo, an erectile dysfunction drug that Greg promotes as a side job, also prompts Jack to think he is no longer sexually attracted to Pam. Furthermore, he starts to doubt his ability to provide for his family when he's initially reluctant to send his children to a private school.
During a medical conference promoting Sustengo, Greg meets Bob at a bar, and he tells him of Jack's original intention to name him as successor, "The Bobfather". His relief and happiness at leaving Jack's family makes Greg slightly uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Jack talks to Pam about the possibility of divorcing Greg and renewing her relationship with her ex-fiancé Kevin Rawley, whom Jack thinks financially and personally more suitable for Pam.
Eventually, following a confrontation with Jack at a clinic, Greg escapes to his and Pam's unfinished new house, where Andi shows up. She tries to cheer him up with Chinese food and wine, but drinks too much and makes an extremely aggressive sexual advance on Greg. Jack, looking for Greg to apologize and bring him home, pulls up to the house and sees through the window what looks like Greg and Andi having sex, although Greg is trying to rebuff Andi's advances. Disgusted, Jack leaves, and tells Dina and Pam he could not find him.
Greg's parents, Bernie and Roz, rejoin the family the next day at the twins' birthday party. Enraged at Greg's apparent infidelity, Jack engages him in a physical fight, despite Greg insisting that he was rejecting Andi. The fight ends with Jack having a heart attack and collapsing. Greg quickly takes charge of the situation, looking after Jack. As paramedics take him away, Jack quietly admits that he believes him after observing his carotid artery remaining stable while Greg was proclaiming his innocence. Impressed with his integrity and quick thinking, Jack approves of him to be "The Gregfocker".
Four months later, on Christmas Day, Greg and Pam's parents celebrate the holidays with them in their new house. Greg's parents, being Jewish, give Jack a kippah as a present, informing him that they traced his family roots and discovered that he is part Jewish. Bernie then informs Greg and Pam that he and Roz have sold their Miami home and are moving to Chicago, only two houses away from theirs. Jack and Dina decide that they will move too, because they also want to be close to their grandchildren. Greg and Pam try to wean their respective parents off the idea.
In the closing credits, Jack views YouTube videos of Greg publicly mocking him during a speech promoting Sustengo.
Production[edit]
Production on Little Fockers began July 2009.[2][3]
Writer John Hamburg stated that the film would deal with "themes of death and divorce and all these real things that, as we get older, we start to think about, but in a really comical way".[4]
Outside the United States, it is the first film in the series to be released by Paramount Pictures, whose 2006 acquisition of the DreamWorks back-catalog included co-ownership of and sequel rights to the Meet the Parents franchise. DreamWorks remains a copyright coholder, as "DW Studios", with Universal Pictures.[5]
On August 24, 2010, it was announced that Dustin Hoffman would be reprising his role as Greg's father, Bernie Focker.[6] The studio failed to reach salary terms with Hoffman until principal photography had wrapped. As a result, his role in the film is significantly smaller than that in the previous entry.