What did you think of this movie? I thought they had a good idea, but I found the movie totally lost me at times. First, why did you think they were going to her meet her parents in the first place? In my opinion, the writer switched horses in midstream about the intention of this visit…and I’ll justify this later on - after some people post their opinions. Also, when was it explicitly told to Gary that Pam’s father was a florist? Somewhere in the beginning, obviously, but do you recall a specific scene…? If so, I WAG I might have blinked!
What would you rate this movie on a scale of 0-5? I’d give it a “3” (with 5 being best). IMHO, - Jinx
A friend visited a couple of months ago and brought the tape of this with her. First off, I wasn’t expecting very much of the movie. In fact, I was wondering when I’d lose interest but that never happened. The movie starts with Greg preparing to propose to Pam, he even went as far to enlist her students to help. Pam mentions that her sister recently announced an engagement to a doctor; the fact that the doctor asked their father for permission before proposing impressed Pam. Greg knows Pam will return home for the wedding so he decides to emulate the doctor and postpones his proposal until he also gets Jack’s permission. Clearly, the marraige is the main reason for them both to be there with Greg wanting Jack’s permission to propose secondary. The problem is that Greg keeps messing things up and convinces himself that Jack will refuse to allow him to marry Pam, and he’s probably right. Greg was led to believe Jack is a retired florist, this is made clear when he presented Jack with the exotic flower. I’m not sure but I think Pam told Greg about her father being a retired florist either while he was attempting to propose at the beginning of the movie or shortly thereafter.
Did you know that this was a remake of a movie done in 1992? I haven’t seen it, but the reviews on imdb are pretty positive. Also according to imdb there will be a sequel in 2003 called “Meet The Fockers”. Man, I hope they get Jerry Stiller to play the elder Focker!
This movies sucks big time. It’s another one of these “Let’s put somebody in a lot embarassing but completely improbable situations” movies. Sheesh. Zero IQ script writing.
The beggining and the early scenes with Stiller and De Niro were ok (especially the uncomfortable silence in the car ride over to the store)…but the subplots involving Focker’s girlfriend’s ex-fiancee, and her sister’s wedding dilluted the movie a bit.
Also, it just had to have the feelgood ending didn’t it?
I don’t know if they explicitly said De Niro’s character was a florist in the beginning, just an afficionado of fine flowers. Hence, the gift of the bulb which takes 6 months to sprout and flower. I found the retired CIA agent bit a little lame.
My wife claims they did mention the father was a florist BEFORE the scene with presenting the gift. If they did, we all seemed to have missed it. As for going to her sister’s wedding, this eluded me, too. Yes, I did understand the sister’s finacee asked the father permission; however, all that hoo-hah before a wedding planned in just two weeks???
No, I don’t buy it. That’s called a quickie wedding, people…fitting of a drive-thru wedding in Las Vegas. Maybe Hollywood folk get their catering (and fancy woodworking) done with only two-weeks’ notice. But, not us mortals! I failed to understand they were going for any other purpose THAN to meet her parents.
I thought they had a cute premise, and they could have done much more with. But, I didn’t hold any great expectations for this movie, anyhow! - Jinx
…Okay, I’ll start off by saying I am prejudiced in that I think Ben Stiller is really cute and I’d like any movie featuring him in a Speedo. With that said, I this movie got a 4 out of 5 stars in my book. You really have to watch Blythe Danner - she’s pretty funny.
In reference to the “plot problems” you guys are brining up, you must have missed something or they may have cut the bits out on TV or something, but it’s made blatantly clear several times that:
Ben Still has an engagement ring and is going to propose to Pam.
He is interrupted in his proposal when Pam gets a cell phone call from her sister, which he overhears, and which includes the over-obvious exposition and sets up the whole movie, including something like “You’re getting married in just two weeks? But you’ve only been dating him 10 months - has he asked Dad’s permission?” etc.
3)Immediately following this, they converse about how anyone who intends to marry Pam needs to ask Dad’s permission.
3)There’s a scene in the car where they discuss Ben’s as-yet unrevealed present, and Ben says something like, “Pam, he’s spent 35 years in the rare-flower business, I’m sure he’s going to like my gift.”
Later, he expresses surprise that Pam’s father wasn’t overjoyed at his gift, since he spent time in the rare-flower business.
5)I’m just vaguely remember this, but I think I do remember a mention of getting that “fancy wookworking” done in a short amount of time, as an additional point about how wonderful the ex-boyfriend character was supposed to be.
All I can say is if you kids can’t follow the plot of this movie, then you really have to make sure you avoid “Magnolia,” “Exotica,” and “Pulp Fiction” - three movies I quite like despite their lack of Ben Stiller-in-a-speedo-less content.
Oh, and also in the airport I think he actually says something along the lines of “I have an engagement ring in my carry-on because I’m going to propose to my girlfriend this weekend,” to the security guard at the baggage scanner. Y’all must have been getting your Junior Mints on or someting when he said that line…