As fans anticipate the new addition of Ariana Grande to the Meet the Parents franchise, original star Ben Stiller has revealed that he didn’t love all the previous sequels.
After 2000’s Meet the Parents became a box office hit, Stiller and Robert De Niro went on to reprise their roles as Greg Focker and Jack Byrnes, respectively, in three more installments: 2004’s Meet the Fockers, 2010’s Little Fockers and the upcoming Focker-In-Law.
The new film, hitting theaters on Nov. 25, centers on Greg and Pam Focker’s (Teri Polo) son Henry (Skyler Gisondo), who causes family chaos when he decides to marry Olivia Jones (Grande), a strong-willed woman who appears to be his complete mismatch.
The Arianators are clearly excited, with one asking on X, “Yall I did not watch the first 3 movies (and I don’t want to watch it either) but I want to watch the 4th one. Will I lose major plot?”
And none other than Greg Foster himself, aka Stiller, replied: “No! But I stand by the first two.”
Though the Zoolander star didn’t share details on why he isn’t a big fan of the third installment, another person followed up in a second post, “So what went wrong with Little Fockers? You worked on it.” Stiller added, “We always try. Fully.”
Little Fockers definitely won’t be making it on Stiller’s list of all-time favorite films, but he does seem excited about the new sequel with Grande following his recent appearance at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.
While on stage during Universal Pictures’ presentation, the Night at the Museum actor joked that the franchise’s team planned a “fully intentional 15-year break between movies three and four.” Stiller also teased De Niro at one point, noting that he’s now roughly the same age that the Oscar winner was in the 2000 film.
“I guess you could say I’m the new De Niro of the franchise,” Stiller quipped, leading De Niro to come out and defend himself. “Don’t say that. It’s very disrespectful,” the Killers of the Flower Moon actor replied. “You made a very unflattering comparison that forced me to defend my honor.”
Owen Wilson and Blythe Danner and Polo are also all reprising their roles in Focker-In-Law.
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