Meet the Fockers appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The transfer came with more than a few flaws.
Sharpness varied a bit. Overall, the flick demonstrated decent accuracy and definition, but exceptions occurred, as more than a few shots displayed mild fuzziness and softness.
Edge haloes cropped up through the whole movie, unfortunately, and those made the results tentative. I also saw some shimmering and artifacts.
Grain was heavier than expected for a modern film, and this often felt like a “substandard old transfer” more than a “naturally grainy” thing. I also saw a handful of small specks.
Colors were pretty positive. A few scenes showed lackluster tones and could be a little runny during the first act.
The tones improved as the flick progressed, especially when we got to the tropical Florida setting. Those shots presented some lively and vivid colors, though the grain dampened their impact.
Blacks tended to feel crushed, and low-light shots felt a little thick. This turned into a surprisingly weak image.
When we got to the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Meet the Fockers, we found audio that served as low-key support for the action. As one might anticipate, the sound stayed mainly focused in the forward channels.
Occasional use of the surrounds occurred in scenes on the road and at parties, but don’t expect much material from the back speakers. The channels added decent ambience.
Audio quality was fine. Speech always sounded natural and crisp, and I noticed no issues connected to edginess or intelligibility.
Music came across as reasonably dynamic and lively, though the score and songs never really stood out as stellar. Effects played a minor role but they created accurate elements with acceptable range. There wasn’t anything exciting on display here, but the sound did the job it needed to do.
How did the Blu-ray compare to the DVD version? The lossless audio felt a bit more dynamic, and this track lost the occasional subwoofer hum that marred the DVD.
Visuals looked a bit stronger, but not as much as one would expect. This seemed to be a recycled old DVD transfer, one that could really use an update.
The Blu-ray replicates the DVD’s extras, and we open with an audio commentary from director Jay Roach and editor/co-producer John Poll, both of whom sit together for this running, screen-specific track. They talk about cast and characters, story points and issues related to the sequel, music, locations, sets, deleted sequences and editing, and production design.
Many of these comments prove illuminating, such as when we find out about working with the youngsters cast as little Jack, and there are also nice notes about improvisation and dealing with so many famous performers. The track occasionally sags, but in general it proves entertaining and useful.
20 Deleted Scenes fill a total of 15 minutes, 45 seconds. As you can tell from that running time, these are short snippets.
They’re more in the realm of scenelets than full sequences, so expect brief extensions of existing bits. The unused parts from the wedding reception present the most substantial cuts, especially when Stiller does double duty as Jorge’s father.
In addition to the deleted scenes, we find 11 minutes, three seconds of Bloopers. Boy, that’s a lot of outtakes, and most of them are just the usual laughs and mistakes.
A few interesting bits pop up, though. It’s oddly fascinating to see De Niro read the same line identically while he holds up different sex book covers, and Hoffman does a funny De Niro impression at one point.
Most telling comment: during a take on the “foreskin in the fondue” scene, Hoffman caps it with a remark about how he got into acting to do Shakespeare. He seems to understand he’s stuck with crap here.
Next comes a featurette called Inside the Litter Box: Behind the Scenes with Jinx the Cat. This four-minute, two-second piece presents comments from Roach, Poll, set PA Denis O’Sullivan Jr., Jinx’s personal assistant Dawn Barkan, set lighting technician James McClure, Jinx’s personal costumer Robert Mata, stand-in John Polce, and actor Ben Stiller.
In this cutesy piece, all involved discuss what a diva Jinx became after the success of the first movie. Avoid this annoying promotional goo.
Another featurette entitled The Manary Gland takes up three minutes, five seconds. Here we get notes from Roach and prop master Eugene McCarthy. We learn about the desire to strap a fake tit onto De Niro and its construction. It’s an odd featurette but it becomes reasonably informative.
Fockers’ Family Portrait splits into three short pieces. We get little featurettes about “Bernie Focker” (2:21), “Roz Focker” (1:45) and “Greg Focker” (1:52).
In these we get remarks from Stiller and actors Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand. Each actor talks a little about the movie, their roles, and their impressions. None of the comments add up to much in these fluffy little clips.
Yet another featurette, Adventures of a Baby Wrangler goes for five minutes, 32 seconds. We find notes from baby wrangler Rhonda Sherman as she explains her job.
We learn about some of the challenges inherent in working with babies as well as her impressions of the Fockers set. She provides some decent information but the tone remains too superficial for this to turn into anything terribly useful.
Matt Lauer Meets the Fockers presents a publicity piece that lasts seven minutes, 57 seconds. The Today Show host sits with Streisand, De Niro, Hoffman, Stiller, Teri Polo and Blythe Danner.
Although it’s cool to see all that talent sit together and chat, the promotional nature of the clip remains clear. We hear a lot of talk about how much fun everything was and not much else.
Arguably the biggest waste of talent I've ever seen, Meet the Fockers is a bad flick. Actually, “bad” doesn’t cover the stench of this cinematic excrement, as it’s a painful experience due to the disparity between the talent involved and the non-existent amusement. The Blu-ray presents problematic visuals and mediocre audio as well as mostly fluffy extras highlighted by a good audio commentary. This becomes a flawed presentation for a terrible movie.
To rate this film visit the DVD review of MEET THE FOCKERS
