he Focker household is abuzz with activity as patriarch Greg (Ben Stiller) scurries out the door, while wife Pam (Teri Polo) helps get their twin children off to school. At the Chicago Memorial Hospital where Greg works as a nurse, conspicuously attractive drug rep Andi Garcia (Jessica Alba) hopes to turn him into a medical superstar to moonlight new erectile dysfunction medicine Sustengo, but he’s concerned about his busy schedule, including an upcoming birthday celebration. Meanwhile, Pam’s father Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) and mother Dina (Blythe Danner) fume over the deterioration of their other daughter’s marriage, noting that as Jack was so busy putting Greg through the ringer, he failed to see all the telltale signs that would point to that inevitable separation.

Greg’s parents are even wackier; Roz Focker (Barbra Streisand) has her own television show about sex, while Bernie (Dustin Hoffman) is randomly in Spain trying to figure out the next phase in his life. And longtime friend Kevin Rawley (Owen Wilson), who previously dated Pam, wants advice about proposing to his girlfriend Svetlana (Olga Fonda). Plus, just after Jack suffers a heart attack, he becomes concerned about the survival of the bloodline, demanding that Greg step up to take over as the leader. “Are you prepared to be the godFocker?”

It starts slowly, rifling through the sizable cast so that audiences can refresh themselves on who is who. But the humor is mild and inconsistent, relying heavily on jokes about penises and anuses and the visual absurdities of projectile vomiting or injuries that inexplicably shoot geysers of blood at shocked spectators. It’s very clearly going for lowest-common-denominator elements. “Will you get out of my ass?”

It’s supposed to be a lighthearted, family-friendly comedy, which explains its general toothlessness; but the repetition of poking fun at Greg’s real name (Gaylord, as well as his last name, which isn’t even utilized well for the title, in which it has minimal relevance) and his profession (apparently, a male nurse is supposed to be a rarity), alongside Jack scrutinizing Greg’s every move, makes this third theatrical outing a rather unoriginal affair. Though “Meet the Parents” capitalized markedly on hilariously uncomfortable moments, heightened by the largely universal concept of nightmarish in-laws, and escalated further with a sequel that used the other set of parents to one-up the eccentricities, the novelty has severely worn off by this stage. Once again, Jack meddles in his daughter’s private life and manipulates Greg (predominantly into seeking approval), while Kevin continues his unsubtle obsession with Pam, and the Fockers contend with questions about the health of their relationship.

More compromising situations arise this time, allowing for greater misinterpretations of crossed lines and understandably flared tempers, but the way in which this picture merely copies the gags from before is quite disappointing. It may be watchable for a brief, funny sequence or two (belly-laughs are entirely absent), but there’s practically nothing here that stands out (the addition or return of supporting roles isn’t even significant, despite names like Laura Dern, Harvey Keitel, and Kevin Hart); even the physical routines are mostly devoid of creativity and hilarity, while resolutions for some of the bigger predicaments are nonexistent. This is one of the most pointless and poorly designed of all movie followups, adding essentially nothing to the characters and their story.

– Mike Massie