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
Five years after the events of the previous film, Gaylord "Greg" Focker is preparing to celebrate his twins Samantha and Henry's fifth birthday party. Things seem to go awry when Greg's father-in-law, Jack Byrnes, visits. Recently, he 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 in 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 as head of the Byrnes family, but he decides to pass the role to Greg, naming him "The Godfocker".
Despite Greg reluctantly accepting the role, Jack resumes his spying on him and begins to suspect him of infidelity when he sees him with drug representative Andi Garcia, who openly flirts with him. This with the presence of Sustengo erection pills in Greg's house prompts Jack to think he is no longer sexually attracted to Pam, his wife. 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, an erectile dysfunction drug, 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 speaks to Pam about the possibility of divorcing Greg and renewing her relationship with her ex-fiancé, Kevin Rawley.
Eventually, following a confrontation at a clinic, Greg escapes to his and Pam's unfinished new house, where Andi turns up. She tries to cheer him up with Chinese food and wine, but she drinks too much (taking a dose of Sustengo as well) 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 actually trying to rebuff Andi's advances. Disgusted, Jack leaves, and tells Dina and Pam that 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 Andi was drunk, and that he was rejecting her. 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 come to spend Christmas with them in their new house. Greg's parents, being Jewish, give Jack a kippah as a present, informing him that, while they were nursing him back to health, they traced his family roots and discovered that he is part Jewish (which does not impress Jack).
Bernie 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. During the closing credits, Jack views YouTube videos of Greg publicly mocking Jack during a speech promoting Sustengo.
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.[citation needed]
Release
In January 2010, the release date for the film was pushed back from July 30, 2010, to December 22, 2010, nominally because Universal hoped to benefit from the long Christmas weekend; it was later revealed to be deliberately delayed only because it was at the time of the delay announcement that Hoffman elected to reprise his character, and the producers had to adjust the filming schedule to accommodate for the filming of his scenes, keeping the announcement secret until the aforementioned August reveal.[7]
The first trailer was released June 24, 2010, preceding showings of Grown Ups and Dinner for Schmucks. A second trailer, released November 10, 2010, was attached to Morning Glory, Unstoppable and Skyline. The film was released in the UK and US December 22, 2010.
Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 9%, based on 150 reviews, with an average rating of 3.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "As star-studded as it is heartbreakingly lazy, Little Fockers takes the top-grossing trilogy to embarrassing new lows."[8] On Metacritic, the film scored 27 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[9] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on a scale of A+ to F.[10][full citation needed] On each of the three websites, it is Streisand's lowest-rated film.
Empire magazine gave the film two stars out of five. Its conclusion: "There are inevitably moments when Hoffman or Wilson get a laugh, but on the whole, it’s the same again, but weaker and with fewer good jokes."[11]
Box office performance
Little Fockers didn't match the opening-weekend gross of its predecessor, Meet the Fockers. It opened with $30.8 million during its opening weekend on approximately 5,000 screens at 3,536 locations across US and Canada.[12] Overall, its five-day opening generated a total of $48.3 million.[13] By comparison, Meet the Fockers made $46.1 million during the same weekend in 2004, for a five-day total of $70.5 million. Little Fockers grossed $148.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $162.2 million from other countries around the world, for a worldwide total of $310.7 million, making it the lowest-grossing film in the trilogy.[14]
