As Ben Stiller boards the promotional tour for “Focker In-Law,” the actor admits not all of the “Meet the Parents” sequels have worked.
Responding to a post on X asking if one needs to watch the first three “Focker” movies to understand the plot of the upcoming fourth film starring Ariana Grande, Stiller wrote, “No! But I stand by the first two.”
When another user commented, “So what went wrong with Little Fockers? You worked on it,” Stiller replied, “We always try. Fully.”
“Meet the Parents” debuted in 2000 and starred Stiller facing off against his girlfriend’s terrifying father, played by Robert De Niro. The 2004 sequel, “Meet the Fockers,” added Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand into the mix and focused on two sets of in-laws caught in a culture clash before their adult kids get married. In 2010, the cast returned for “Little Fockers,” which received poor reviews and was the weakest franchise entry at the global box office.
The fourth film, “Focker In-Law,” will be released on Nov. 25 and stars Grande as Olivia Jones, a potential new member of the Focker family. Olivia, a former FBI hostage negotiator, is dating Greg Focker’s (Stiller) son, and psychological family warfare ensues.
This is not the first time Stiller has reflected on his movies that haven’t quite connected. In 2024, he spoke about “Zoolander 2” flopping at the box office, saying the results were “blindsiding.”
“I thought everybody wanted this,” Stiller said of the sequel. “And then it’s like, ‘Wow, I must have really fucked this up. Everybody didn’t go to it. And it’s gotten these horrible reviews.’”
Source: variety.com
