Movie review: Little Fockers ***

Little Fockers ***

Stars: Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Teri Polo
Director: Paul Weitz
Rated: PG
Showing: Speciality Cinema Thursday, January 6 at 2:30pm/6:15pm/9:15pm. Week of Friday, January 7 - daily at 2:30/6:15/9:15pm except Sunday 1/4/7pm. For more information about film times, call 292-2135.
Runtime: 98 minutes
Comedy

The hugely popular Focker clan return for a festive threequel — a holiday feast of slapstick from the family who put the fun in dysfunctional.

It has taken 10 years, two little Fockers and countless challenges but likeable nurse Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) has finally won the approval of stern father-in-law Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro).

He is now so much in Jack’s good graces that he asks him to be the family’s next patriarch — the Godfocker.

When both sets of parents, Byrnes and Fockers, descend on Greg’s house — along with his wife’s lovelorn ex (Owen Wilson), he must prove he is the man of the house and up to the job.

But when Jack discovers he is moonlighting for a drug company, his old suspicions are raised and it paves the way for another series of comic misunderstandings and mishaps.

The best scenes are in the trailer, notably Jack’s experimentation with a Viagra-style drug.

Robert De Niro’s deadpan Jack steals every scene, as does Dustin Hoffman as Greg’s hippy father.

There’s plenty of physical comedy perfectly executed by American Pie director Paul Weitz but there’s nothing original.

Fans will love it and it’s mindless fun for the holidays.

Watch if you liked: Meet The Parents.