De Niro essayed his ultra conservative father last time out and now he has got everything perfectly right, from the disarming tough looks to the tough-guy walk. He plays it straight although cranked up a little and gets some big belly laughs as a result.
Hoffman is tremendous as the free-spirited Mr Focker, wandering around in over-bright, unbuttoned shirts and with an ever-present grin on his face; and Streisand gets right into her role as the equally free-spirited Mrs. Focker, who not only talks about sex all the time, but seems to want to do it all the time, too.
She looks a bit of an Earth Mother these days - this is her first film role in eight years - but she throws herself into the part with obvious enthusiasm.
The scriptwriters Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg give the cast plenty of ideas to play around with: De Niro has his own ideas of bringing up a grandchild which has been dumped on him, including feeding it through a false breast; he drives a massive people carrier complete with a secret compartment; there is hostility between his cat and the Fockers' dog; daughter Pam is secretly pregnant; and of course, the randy OAPs, walking around the house.
For the most part the film is suitably ridiculous and hard-hearted. But this being an American comedy it does develop into a bit of schmaltz and group hugging before the end.
Above all, it is very funny. I laughed out loud more times than I can remember and that does not happen too often.
