The Little Fockers (Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Teri Polo, Owen Wilson, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner, Jessica Alba, Harvey Keitel) – The Focker franchise wears a bit thin by the end of this third installment. Perhaps the title was too good not to do a movie around. That doesn’t mean The Little Fockers isn’t amusing and harmless; it is. But the story is even more far-fetched than the first two and the jokes are more forced. Frankly, it has too many characters. I mean, how much room on the screen can be left after Dustin, Bob, and Babs get done hamming it up for the cameras. The grounding of the film still rests with Ben Stiller – Gay (aka Greg) Focker himself. This time, he and Pam (Teri Polo) are raising their two adorable kids, one of whom isn’t currently talking to him. Of course, the kids are the center of attention but, while that could overwhelm the film, they don’t. Instead, the story provides a drug rep (Jessica Alba) to recruit Gay (or Greg) to speak to doctors about the miracle of her latest drug, an erectile dysfunction pill that is safe for heart patients. She becomes practically a stalker all in a plot device to provide some tension and to give Jack Byrnes (De Niro) more reason to dislike his son-in-law.
It doesn’t work. The script also brings Owen Wilson’s character, Kevin, back into the story to show that he still is hung up on Pam. Again, we don’t need this even if Wilson has some good moments. Finally, Greg’s parents, played by Hoffman and Streisand, make little more than cameos due to the lack of time and space in the movie. Thus, with a weak script, an over-abundance of actors, and an increasingly tiring franchise, the movie just doesn’t live up to expectations. I hesitate to tell you that they set up a possible fourth film in the last scene but they do. And if they make it, I’ll go. But there is a reason that, with few exceptions (Harry Potter and perhaps Star Wars), most multi-film franchises end with three. Let’s hope that Stiller and Company learn from that.