ARTH Disc ***ZEEK THE GEEK***

Meet the Fockers 2004 by Jay Roach

Ask Father 1919 by Hal Roach

     I want to go out a limb here and say that Meet the Fockers is a modern day melodrama in that this movie does possess a humorous yet “intensely emotional-rollercoaster plots centered on highly dramatized moral dilemmas and conflicts, usually within family situations” (Kuhn & Westwell, 2015). I found instances where there are scenes of subtle melodrama leading up to a predictable romantic happy ending in a comedy. I feel like in the movie Ask Father, Meet the Fockers has in common some relationship problems and awkward issues in the way of difficult future father-in-laws. Although not a real tear-jerker, both movies tends to emotionally move the viewer to some small degree of empathy for the young men trying to win the father-in-laws’ approval.

Both films share some slapstick, victimizing and general roughhouse type violence.

How is the film different?

     The father in Ask Father does not want to give the daughter away, tossing the suitor out every time he goes to the office to ask the father. The father ejects him repeatedly in various ways. In Meet the Fockers, the father ejects this daughter’s suitor with truth serum. Also this movie has the star power of De Niro, a major actor playing a different role than he has been type cast to play in the past. Then there’s Ben Stiller playing his known type cast of being the goof ball at the butt end of others’ jokes.

     This film has spiritual content portrayed through the reference made of the Rabbi who did the son’s circumcision. Also religious reference was made to identify the daughter’s ex-boyfriend as being a multi faith priest, wearing a clerical collar and a yarmulke.

     Of course, sex sells in modern film. The sexual content in Meet the Fockers comes in the forms of sexual hints, jokes, discussion of sexuality and breast flashings. The son’s mother is a senior sexuality therapist. There’s a brief scene where couples are practicing use sexual positions. The mother of the son has an office in her home with lots of sexually explicit paintings and statues showing naked body parts and couples posing naked as well. She has a book shelves with lots of self-help sex books. His parents are proud of their late age sexuality and loves to talk about it. This movie has lots of sexually incorporated topic from masturbation to a humping dog to descriptions of sexual organs.

     Meet the Fockers contains scenes of violent, physical humor; the character toddler does a head-butt giving the would-be son-in-law a nose bleed. Another bloody nose occurs when a missed kick lands him a bloody nose again. There’s police brutally when Ben Stiller’s character gets arrested and is zapped with a taser gun. The toddler is seen watching the most violent scene from the movie Scarface and has his hands glued to a bottle of rum. The family name, Fockers is repetitively used to sound like fuckers.  The word shit is usually throughout as well as God damn and the toddler’s first and frequent word being that of ass hole.

How does sound play a part in the film you watched?

     The modern use of special effects, sound effect and music helps to emphasize peak scenes in Meet the Fockers. The lack of music or even background music during the nightclub party when Ben Stiller is speaking frankly as the result of the ejected truth serum was effective for that scene. It kind of made you feel sorry for him as he was a victim at this point.

 Identify at least three places that sound stood out in the film.

· The sound of the dog humping the toddler’s squeaky doll was effective to driving the point home that he was actually in the act.

· The sound of a flushing toilet to signify the cat’s potty training ability.

· I feel that the annoying song playing during the beginning of the RV trip represented the annoying road trip.

· The background ticking sound of the taser as Ben Stiller lay fluttering yet again a victim.

· The sound of the taser gun stunning the retired CIA expert attempting to pull rank on the police made the scene comical.

Reference