Approximately 26 years ago, Ben Stiller buried Sylvester Stallone at the box office when “Meet the Parents,” starring Stiller, captured the mainstream comedy zeitgeist, leaving the Stallone-directed remake of “Get Carter” in the dust. The magnitude of the film’s success might have surprised Universal Pictures, but the studio knew it had multiple elements in its favor. “There’s Something About Mary” had transformed Stiller into a rom-com superstar, while “Analyze This” had turned his co-star, Robert De Niro, into a viable comedy leading man. Add in director Jay Roach, who was red-hot thanks to the “Austin Powers” movies, and this reeked of guaranteed success.
“Meet the Parents” is not a classic per se, but it is a very fun PG-13 comedy that you can watch with the whole family during the holidays. That said, one time with De Niro’s retired and ridiculously protective CIA agent, Jack Byrnes, and Stiller’s frazzled boyfriend, Gaylord “Greg” Focker, was enough. Universal, however, looked at the film’s $330 million gross and greenlit a sequel. “If you thought Jack and Greg weren’t compatible, wait until you see how the Byrnes fit in with Greg’s eccentric parents!” Or so I thought.
Universal got it right commercially, but critics panned the sequel to the 2004 film, “Meet the Fockers.” Then came “Little Fockers” in 2010, an abysmal film that grossed $311 million against an obscene $100 million budget. That’s when Universal wisely tapped.
However, 16 years later, the studio is betting that moviegoers have had “Little Fockers” erased from their brains and are therefore excited to see De Niro hook up Ariana Grande with the polygraph machine in “Focker In-Law.” The stars of “Meet the Parents” (in itself a new version of a very dark comedy that you probably haven’t seen) are back, but are they also on autopilot? Let’s examine the newly released trailer.
Ben Stiller steps into the shoes of Robert De Niro in Focker-In-Law
The first trailer for “Focker-In-Law” debuted at CinemaCon 2026 following an introduction by stars Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro. Stiller noted that in the new film, his character, Greg, is now in the position of De Niro’s character, Jack, while Ariana Grande’s newcomer character, Olivia, is the new Greg. However, nothing is simple in the “Meet the Parents” universe, which seems to exist solely to torture Ben Stiller in new and inventive ways. The same goes for “Meet the Fockers,” which reveals Olivia, the potential new wife of Pam (Teri Polo) and Greg’s son Henry (Skyler Gisondo), as a former FBI hostage negotiator. That is, she is an expert in emotional manipulation.
While retired CIA agent Jack immediately falls for Olivia, Greg is convinced that she is up to no good and is unworthy of joining the family’s “trusted circle.” Greg will stop at nothing to prove that Olivia is bad news for the family, and it looks like Grande is about to force us to change ranks. our list of his best performances.
From the looks of it, “Focker-In-Law” seems like a return to form for the franchise, a sincerely funny comedy with a story and plenty of antics that are completely in line with each character. Watching Ben Stiller’s Greg get too competitive on a bike trip is reminiscent of the time he got too into volleyball and broke his future sister-in-law’s nose in the middle of a friendly match. Color us surprised and cautiously optimistic about a great movie.
“Focker-In-Law” hits theaters on November 25, 2026.