Little Fockers (2010)

After suffering a heart attack, a former CIA agent (Robert De Niro) prods his son in law (Ben Stiller) to prepare to take over as the head of the family. That's about it. The FOCKERS franchise has gone to the well once too often. It's dry as a bone. You can see where the jokes are supposed to be and that you're supposed to laugh but the situations are so lame that even a smile is asking too much. When the funniest bit is saved for the end credits, you know something has gone terribly awry. The first entry MEET THE PARENTS was first rate and the second MEET THE FOCKERS was a reasonably successful sequel. The third time trips them up. For some reason Owen Wilson, who was the most annoying character in MEET THE PARENTS, has been resurrected as if he were a highlight of the first installment! He gets strong competition in the annoying sweepstakes from Jessica Alba as the perky rep of a major drug company (Wilson wins). One cringes for the poor actors, surely they must have realized what poor material they were working with. Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman are also back as Stiller's parents but they're wasted. Directed by Paul Weitz. With Laura Dern, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo and Harvey Keitel (one winces at his scenes with De Niro, a far fall from their glory days in TAXI DRIVER). I trust this has killed the franchise for good.