The Reel Rejects - MEET THE FOCKERS (2004) IS DELIGHTFULLY CRINGE!! MOVIE REVIEW!!

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Starting point is 00:01:55 We watched the Fawken movie. Yes, we did. Meet the Fokkers. Yes. Big fawkin thank you to the folks over at Prepper for fawking up these highlights, but good. It's a task, you know, there's a lot of moving parts, a lot of different people's personalities colliding. But they weed through all that and they make what you see here in front of you.

Starting point is 00:02:17 They're very holistic and sensual. And I have it on good authority that everybody on their staff kisses on the neck when they arrive. work each day and we appreciate them ever the much more for it also if you could leave a fawken like on the video also fawken subscribe and when you do hit the fucking notification bell so you can get notified when if we happen to cover lill fuckers or any of the other fokker verse litany of films uh and uh podcast that's right if you happen to be listening on a service such as Apple, Spotify, any other auditory medium, you'll leave us a little bit of a rating if you please.

Starting point is 00:03:01 Sevo Play. Yeah, fuck around and find out. Falk around. Find out. Aaron. Donald. How are you feeling right now before we hop into some questions from our friends over at the Patreon?

Starting point is 00:03:15 I feel pretty fucking good. Yeah? I'm not going to lie. Yeah. This is a fun one. I thought. I thought it was very funny. I enjoyed all of the characters' dynamics,

Starting point is 00:03:30 and, you know, just speaks to just how different each family was. And I thought it was a great time. I mean, it's weird, because obviously part of the humor of this movie and the last movie is, like, the cringe factor, right? And... What? I think cringe once. What are you talking about?

Starting point is 00:03:51 What if any part of these movies is? predicated on cringed. And I'm wondering, I think that not a single moment, a single ounce, that the first one would have been a little cringier, but this definitely had some strong cringes as well.

Starting point is 00:04:08 Yeah, the first one was definitely a much higher concentrate. This was, you know, there was uncomfortable humor, but this was way less like squirm-inducing than the first one. Like the first one was cringe in a

Starting point is 00:04:23 painful kind of way and not that I didn't enjoy that movie but it is a movie the first one where yeah I was very much like God I got to brace myself for the next time I watch this because the whole point is that it's like big

Starting point is 00:04:39 uncomfortable and this one certainly like has elements of that but I thought they they don't even toned it down they just there was something about it where they it was a little more pleasant I guess first one is like a train wreck and it's really uncomfortable it's funny but it is like painful to watch whereas this one was like funny and and wacky in ways but i wasn't like

Starting point is 00:05:04 hurting no while i was watching there's a couple points of rigorous season pretty good there you got all up in the chair yeah you were just you were like oh fucking locked arms yeah but i don't i don't know what i'm trying to find the exact right words because yeah there was definitely i was in motion you know this is definitely outrageous in a lot of places there's definitely stuff that is you know uncomfortable or in the cringe aisle of comedy but uh but yeah i don't know there's something about this one that was just like less worst case scenarios for everything and more like uncomfortable opportunities for everybody to get together and you know riff and you know i don't know i'll find the words as we go i guess

Starting point is 00:05:50 Yeah, I think I really enjoyed it. If I'm comparing in my head, I think I enjoyed the first one slightly more, but it's like almost neck and neck. I think it's like, meet the parents, meet the foggers right here. But the only thing I, the only, I guess, minor criticism I have of this one is that I wish that the, that Pam got to be more involved in the plot in the hijinks of things. Because I felt like with all these different things going on that she didn't really have any opinion. about it or feelings, especially in the height of being very pregnant and hormonal, and I think

Starting point is 00:06:27 that could have added to some time into the movie, but this is two hours. I can't say what I would cut to, you know, make those adjustments, but yeah, I kind of wish she was more involved, but she definitely had, you know, was there for the emotional aspects of things at the end, and not to say

Starting point is 00:06:42 that I didn't enjoy her on screen, all the actors did a really great job made their characters extremely well and, yeah, That's what I would say about this one. Okay. How do you feel about it, man? I feel great.

Starting point is 00:06:59 You know, it's interesting, because, yeah, I'm trying to think. I would probably sooner put this on because I've had more, like, I really like the array of the ensemble here. I think it's, you know, you've got four veteran actors among Robert De Niro Blight or, you know, Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand. There we go, Barbara Streisand. Yeah, and the four of them, I thought, really rose to the occasion. And then, you know, obviously Ben Stiller, continuing to hold it down and is, you know, like a fun. I found him to be, you know, a fun and enjoyable centerpiece, even though most of the movie is predicated on watching him in vast discomfort and being subjected to all kinds of, like, weird, wacky treatment. But I think, you know what it is i think this movie has for me a more appealing balance because in the first movie you are completely on burns turf so like gregg is this isolated character and even pam like isn't helping in that movie even though she's you know got the best

Starting point is 00:08:13 of intentions she's a little bit oblivious and she is certainly to some degree unaware of just the amount Greg is up against, even if she does have a sense, certainly. Whereas this one, it's like you have because you have the balance of the burns and the Fokkers and then you have Greg and Pam

Starting point is 00:08:33 kind of in between them. It just created like a different proportionality, so like I wasn't focused so heavily on the fact like I think that's the thing is like the first movie to me did feel like so much more viscerally cringe-inducing.

Starting point is 00:08:49 Like this was fun, cringy, whereas the first movie is like, I'm kind of laughing in spite of how uncomfortable all of this is. And, like, I appreciate the first movie and then I think it's effective at doing what it did. And I liked it in some ways more than I expected to. But this one I found to just be way more kind of fun and palatable, I guess. Okay. I like everybody, even if they're all at odds and even if some people can't help themselves. Whereas in the first movie, I was like, woo. Like, goddamn, half this family is kind of insufferable, and the other half is still insufferable, but I know that there's charm and there's, you know, worthwhile shit underneath the surface.

Starting point is 00:09:31 So, so, yeah, it's, I felt like this did a nice job of not losing the fact that these are all about, again, discomfort and, you know, worst case scenarios and everything that can go wrong will go wrong. But, yeah, I don't know. This one was, again, less sort of, I still can't find the word. It was just, yeah, less painful, less viscerally upsetting than the first one. So do you feel like the first one because is more uncomfortable because of the specific circumstance he's within? Or like you're putting yourself in the shoes of like, oh, I've had to meet someone's parents before. And like, it's just like the cringe of what that can be like. This is, yeah, it's just a fact that you have Greg who is like.

Starting point is 00:10:16 well meaning and you know he's a guy who's clearly trying to make a good impression and all that stuff and he just can't win and like I don't know the array of things that happens it's like he lights the house on fire and he burns this gazebo down and then he has to go and he freaking paints the cat and

Starting point is 00:10:30 there's knocks the urn over like the I think it's that it's like the things they shoved into the set pieces in the first film are like a little harder edged for sure like we didn't have you know we have the fact that parents are you know like sex

Starting point is 00:10:47 therapists and stuff like that and they're like so bohemian and like that's you know obviously there's an uncomfortable quality that will come with that too but there's just like a more fun spirit to this movie I guess is what it is whereas the first movie he is like again

Starting point is 00:11:03 him versus the rest of the family and everyone is like kind of an asshole and most of them are like very unpleasant toward him and because you don't really ever get to know him you really do feel like you're kind of up against this nasty conglomerate of people. Yeah, because I feel like in this one, you know, you take the burns and put them in the Falker's world.

Starting point is 00:11:28 And then he's trying to maintain control with all being within their world. Whereas on the first one, he's trying to impress the dad. And he's obviously on the back foot the entire time. So, yeah, it does create a different sense of balance because you have these characters that are very comfortable in their selves. while Ben Stiller's character Greg he's very much in the middle like I love my parents but like oh I need to please the dad because I want him to love me

Starting point is 00:11:55 and accept the fact that these are happening and you raise the stakes with the fact that they're having a baby so yeah I think the balancing of having these other characters that don't have something to prove allows a sense of the room the movie having more room to be fun and have people

Starting point is 00:12:12 that are themselves in the in the midst of someone who's trying to not mess anything up with Robert De Niro's character So yeah It does make it a little lighter

Starting point is 00:12:26 A little bit more palatable So I definitely understand that Yeah and There weren't as many of those type of hijinks But the ones that were here Were really funny I think the joke that killed me With the when the dog got flushed

Starting point is 00:12:40 I was dead That was wild Yeah that's like very much akin to a first meet the parents kind of situation yeah you know yeah that was the thing that came closest to a situation to like that was similar to the first one

Starting point is 00:12:53 and that's why I think it's appropriate here is because like with the burns as comes that stuff but you also have the fact that like Greg is kind of a fish out of water here between both sets of families yeah so there's just a greater range of things they can do and so the flavor

Starting point is 00:13:09 of the discomfort that comes with the burns is what we're more familiar with and brings that level of like, oh, God, no, this doesn't, this, this isn't what it looks like, you know, I can explain, but how could you possibly, you know, it brings that sort of, again, worst case scenario kind of cringe humor and then the stuff with the Fokker's brings, yeah, the more sort of fluid and whimsical kind of cringe humor. And then you have, you know, them clashing together with each other and then Greg, clashing with each set of them for different reasons.

Starting point is 00:13:40 And then, I don't know. Whereas the first movie I think just had, yeah, it was like Greg and everyone else, or Greg and Robert De Niro, I guess, and everyone else, this was sort of like a bunch. It felt more like a true ensemble piece in a way. I was aware like, oh, yeah, like they're in a way that's not distracting or overpowering. They are letting these veteran actors, like, take a lot of the lead and really riff off each other. And you really feel like you are spending some time with them. And I don't know, it's just nice to have Greg was somebody in his corner.

Starting point is 00:14:11 even if what they're providing in that corner isn't what he necessarily wants. Yeah. Yeah. I thought it's built nicely upon the first one. Like I can see why some people would very much prefer the first one. I enjoyed and thought the first one was funny, but this is like way less of a of a nerve-racking watch. Yeah, but also the font, the foreskin fond dude. That was also another cringe.

Starting point is 00:14:37 See, that's the thing. That's the thing. and like I appreciate I would have been probably like a little taken aback and I would have maybe levied it as a complaint if they completely lost that but yeah the first movie is like

Starting point is 00:14:50 that is the flavor I associate with the first movie right sort of like ha ha ha ha oh god oh god these awful traumatic memories but yeah this was a lot of fun I had a lot of fun watching this

Starting point is 00:15:06 this rewatch I was fascinated by or this you know watch react series i was fascinated by because i was like yeah i don't know i didn't this isn't the these aren't the movies i expect to like necessarily love or anything and i don't know where i would rank them among my favorite comedies but i would say that yeah like this experience these two movies as far have been more uh i've enjoyed myself more thoroughly than i expected and i like the i like them proportionally against each other i like one to the next for the reasons that, again, they share and the reasons that make them different. Yeah, I think they complement each other well.

Starting point is 00:15:47 And, yeah, I think these two together are a definite, worthy series of one of those beloved comedies. And very curious to see how Little Fokker kind of plays into the legacy, for lack of better term, of these movies. I am curious. I'm worried now because I'm like, these first two are pretty strong. And I don't know. For some reason, I'm not as optimistic that the third one will be good.

Starting point is 00:16:16 I don't hear anybody talk about the third one. Yeah. And it's like, I know that these are the kinds of movies that don't get tremendously good, positive, high tomato meter score rating reviews upon release often. But I feel like, yeah,

Starting point is 00:16:30 just kind of tapping into the cultural osmosis. I'm like, yeah, I feel like as far as the, comedies of the past few decades have gone like meet the parents meet the falkers people bring those up and they are a package and you know some of that rides in the fact that falker is just such a you know versatility silly choice for a name for a title all that stuff but yeah i feel like people at least talk about these too even if i don't hear a lot of people mentioning meet the fokers in favorable uh tones

Starting point is 00:17:06 Or, sorry, little fuckers, I should say. But hey, let's get a quick couple questions in here. We got only a couple today. Because, you know, it's hard to say anything more about a masterpiece. Yeah. Jay Rushden. Thank you for chiming in. Meet the Fockers, John and Aaron.

Starting point is 00:17:27 This was funny and a complex movie. Okay. Dog chasing the cat into the crapper was the best part. What other things were funny in the movie? Oh, four-skin fondue. Hilarious. Yeah, yeah, pretty fun. The boob holster was hilarious.

Starting point is 00:17:47 Yeah, the feeding apparatus was wild. Golly, golly. When he left the kid alone, and then he starts playing in the glue, and then the bottle, and he comes in with the boob thing strapped on him With the horns on, the reindeer horns. So good. I feel like the like this was, again, these movies have like so much in them that, I don't know. I mean, it's hard to almost pick one on.

Starting point is 00:18:18 The dog one is one that comes directly to my mind. There are a lot of like fun like thrown out their lines too and stuff like that. There's a bunch of moments I'm thinking of in this one. there's when he when they're playing football he like hits him and he's oh my god and he like flips him over yeah but when barbara strides and is riding robert de nero like he's uh sea biscuit that was good oh yeah i'm trying to think i remember having some some pretty big belly laughs in here um i think that the the dog getting flush out of the toilet is probably the funniest bit for me yeah that killed me yeah i would i would i would say

Starting point is 00:19:00 So something else might come to me. But yeah. I mean, that's the thing is like they did throw a lot at you in this. And I think my favorite things were just like the bits. I really liked the interplay, the bits between the different characters. I think the cringiest moment for me, I'm curious to hear what yours would be. It was, I mean, I guess it's one of them anyway. But it's coming to my mind now is that when Rob Teniro gets out the shower and he's just like taking a,

Starting point is 00:19:30 crap with like full eye contact that's pretty funny yeah yeah yeah I enjoyed that bit I mean them with the whipped cream oh yeah pretty funny faithful whipped cream that was good yeah oh I had I had one that came to mine

Starting point is 00:19:44 and now it's it's eluding me again it'll come to me I mean the truth serum speech was pretty funny too I got to say yeah you know that was good but yeah leave us your favoriteest funniest meet the fuckerest moments down below Thank you, Jay.

Starting point is 00:20:03 Thank you, dog. Let's see. Rovi, Bobarp, Pirate. For John and Aaron, meet the Fokkers. Hi, guys. How's it going? Ola. Doing all right.

Starting point is 00:20:14 Feeling fun, feeling fine. In the, oh, yeah, that's right. I'm going to get some neck kissing going on. In this movie, were you taken aback or surprised by any particular scene or casting choice? Which ones are your favorite Dustin Hoffman performances and why? keep up the good work and chow from sardinia thank you thank you oh best dusty hoffs huh ah i need to like yeah see his yeah let's pull up the old film on

Starting point is 00:20:41 especially when i'm a little sleep deprived and i'm like i always need a little jogger of the memory i feel like i should watch the graduate for the 19th time to see if i like it this time i need to watch the graduate so i can have context for 500 days of summer oh there are a lot of graduate riffing in that movie there's like Have you seen that movie? No. Oh, that'd be a great reaction. Let me get John on 500 days of summer, please.

Starting point is 00:21:05 I would love that. Yeah, I will say not more, but I will say less, but I will say that that movie plays a small part in 500 days of summer. But I don't have context for why that is, so I would love to watch it. Okay, okay. Oh, Strangler Than Fiction. That's right. He is in Stranger Than Fiction. I remember liking Rain Man, but I don't remember anything about it.

Starting point is 00:21:33 I definitely need to watch Rain Man again. I know I've seen it the ones, and he is terrific in that movie. You can't take that away from him. I want to see Hook again because I do not. I know it's one of those movies they put on in school. I would love to watch Hook. I don't know if I've seen it all the way. God, I don't remember anything about it either.

Starting point is 00:21:50 Dick Tracy, I would love to see. I feel like it's weird. I know I've seen a bunch of his movies over time, but I also feel like straw dogs I've never seen. There are some, like, I feel like, iconic Dustin Hoffman performances that I should catch up with Midnight Cowboy I've never seen.

Starting point is 00:22:09 Golly. There's one on there called The Tiger Makes Out. Really? With who? In the jungle, the mighty jungle, The Tiger makes out with time. It makes out with you. Runaway jury.

Starting point is 00:22:26 I'm going to just say that movie, because that movie is great. It's underrated. It says he's uncredited, but a movie I would love to watch because I have not seen since I was a child a series of unfortunate events

Starting point is 00:22:37 with Jim Carrey. Oh, we'd love that. Yeah, he's the critic. Oh, wow. He's got a few uncredited roles. I remember, I haven't seen that in ages either. I remember liking that movie a lot of the series of unfortunate events.

Starting point is 00:22:53 I am just going to give a little shout out here to what is objectively the answer on this list. And that's Mr. Magoriam's Wonder Emporium. He's Mr. Magorium. Is he? He owns the Wonder Emporium that he is trying to, I think,

Starting point is 00:23:13 pass off to Ann Hathaway or whoever else is in that new... Isn't he legend Mr. Magorium? No, that's the imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, not Mr. Magoriam's Wonder Emporium. I get those two fake stuff. How up. Why ever would you possibly do that? I don't see what could possibly be similar about these.

Starting point is 00:23:34 Okay, so that's Mr. McGoriam's Wonder Emporium. What's the other one called? The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. You know, you know. Are those movies? Are those movies similar at all? I don't think so. From what I gathered, Mr. McGoriam's Wonder Emporium

Starting point is 00:23:56 was like a whimsical friggin you know family oriented movie of some kind whereas like the imaginarium of Dr. Parnassas

Starting point is 00:24:05 is like a strange fantastical not quite sci-fi but it's like kind of mind-bending and it's surreal it's definitely not

Starting point is 00:24:19 like a kids family movie was that his last movie Heath Ledger's last movie and then they had John Depp Jude Law and Colin Farrell come in and like

Starting point is 00:24:33 they kept what they shot with Heath Ledger and then they created a device within they created a device within the plot so that they could have these other three actors take on the role essentially and kind of carry it along cool that was originally the plan though no no no it was just supposed to be Heath Ledger as the character for the movie

Starting point is 00:24:53 but then you know obviously Terry Gilliam has Terry Gilliam luck but yeah sorry I'm just frantically scrubbing the movie to make sure that no just like random great gags pop out at me but yes

Starting point is 00:25:08 comment below if you've seen the imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus or Mr. Magoriam's Wonder Emporium and if you've seen them both rank them I think you should do and then yeah

Starting point is 00:25:23 this movie was pretty dense as far as the humor goes but I think that it did a good job of allowing the movie to have those humorous moments while also maintaining a consistent plot that you know has a whole

Starting point is 00:25:39 arc yeah it does you know and it's a movie that is a little bit more character centric than it is necessarily fully bit centric and even though you know it's the characters grow but you can't have them grow too much because essentially

Starting point is 00:25:55 more or less the arc rubbed in the air I was like oh I gotta stop being an asshole yeah yeah

Starting point is 00:26:02 baby's calling you that a whole movie I feel like we did name most of the bits here too because that's the thing is like

Starting point is 00:26:10 the first movie to me is more like oh I remember bits whereas this movie is more like characters

Starting point is 00:26:15 interacting and trying to get along and yada I thought his friggin RV secret layer

Starting point is 00:26:22 was pretty sick that was pretty funny way cool funny is underrated is an underserved version of funny um but yes any other people who showed out i believe the first half of this question was anybody who showed up who surprised you or you the guy who looked just like ben stiller and was not his son apparently oh yeah i was like who is that guy and why did he look so much like ben stiller i knew this paid off ben stiller and brown

Starting point is 00:26:48 face is the best gag of the movies i support that fully and i'm glad they did it also i thought It was funny. They brought up Owen Wilson again to just be here. Jay Roche Loses Brownface. Yeah, he does. Yeah, we should, I guess that's how we can close out. Let's find out what that dude's name is so that we can, let's see, Ash versus Evil Dead. Yeah, he's fucking, there you go.

Starting point is 00:27:12 He's Pablo. Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha. He's Pablo. Go, Ray Santiago. Yeah. He's going to take over a night at the museum. He is. He's just going to follow Ben Stiller around from now on.

Starting point is 00:27:24 Well, gang, we did it. We got fucked up and it was good. Surprised by any particular scene or casting choice, man. These are all about surprises. Tim Blake Nelson would have been a nice surprise. I had not been credited in the movie. Agree. Agree.

Starting point is 00:27:43 Yeah. He was fun. He had a fun scene. Absolutely. We'll leave us your particular surprises or casting choices you were especially chuffed by. And we will catch you on the next one. Be Well Party, people. Should we get FOC?

Starting point is 00:28:00 Should we watch the little Fockers? Let us know. And thanks for coming and laughing with us. This was a good time. This is great. All right. We're fawking out. Fawking out, man.

Starting point is 00:28:11 Be well. Go fuck yourself.

The Reel Rejects - MEET THE FOCKERS (2004) IS DELIGHTFULLY CRINGE!! MOVIE REVIEW!!

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