After the success of the Stiller-hit “Meet The Parents” a sequel was nothing more than to be expected. With this movie, Stiller concludes an impressive string of movies in the year 2004. However, I think if Stiller continues in this way, he risks becoming a one trick pony (if he isn’t already). Not only does he appear reluctant to stray from his familiar comedy path, but his characters are always the same in every movie (with the exception of his hilarious character in Dodgeball). He keeps on playing the insecure, doubtful and sometimes manic guy he always does, and that starts to tire me.

Basically, this is part one revisited, but this time we are introduced to the parents of Ben Stiller, or Gaylord Focker as he is called in the movie. His parents, The Fockers, are played by a great Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand, back from yesteryear. Together with Robert De Niro these seasoned actors deliver good, solid work in which De Niro and Hoffman again show that they are very comfortable with comedy. The story and plot are minimal and seem only to be there to accommodate the numerous gags. Most of these jokes are rooted in the reluctance of being outright to one another, which in turn creates all kinds of misunderstanding and (unnecessarily) complicated situations; it’s this sit-com humour that is so quintessential to American comedy. Nevertheless, some jokes are really funny and I found one to be an absolute screamer; the way little Jack pronounces his first word could easily become a quote classic.

Back to Stiller again: he now has the clout in Hollywood to get basically every actor to star in his movies and some of them willingly flock in order to give their (wilting?) careers a boost. While to actors as Hoffman and De Niro it may seem a welcome diversion from their regular work, Stiller appears reluctant to expand his talent like fellow-comedian Adam Sandler did so bravely with Punch-Drunk Love. Also funny-man Jim Carrey saw the danger of sticking to his shtick for too long and took the hard road. Stiller must have witnessed the struggle Carrey had to shake off his crazy antics and to be taken seriously as an all-round actor. Still, I wonder when Stiller will show the world that he can portray other characters than his patented ‘Jewish tight-ass’. That is: if he’d ever feel the urge to do so.