‘Meet the Fockers’ could have been so much better

The tough thing about reviewing a comedy is that we all have different senses of humor. Some of you will see (or already have seen) “Meet the Fockers” and think it’s one of the funniest movies of the year.

Or not.

Guess which camp I’m in?

Here’s a test: Say the title of the movie out loud. Are you chuckling? Fine. Now say the title out loud 10 more times. If you still think the word “Focker” is funny, you will absolutely LOVE this movie. If not, then stay home and save your money. I wish I had.

“Meet the Fockers” is the sequel to the 2000 hit comedy “Meet the Parents,” which starred Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Blythe Danner and Teri Polo. The cast returns for the sequel, where Stiller and Polo (as Greg Focker and his fiancee, Pam) schlep the whole crew to Florida to meet Greg’s aging, free-spirited hippy parents (played by Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand).

The clash between De Niro’s uptight character and Hoffman and Streisand’s touchy-feeling New Agers is supposed to bring laughs — and it could have. Unfortunately, a great cast and a great opportunity are wasted because director Jay Roach takes the easy route and goes for the cheap, raunchy laugh instead of a more human comedy.

Toilet and sex jokes abound in “Meet the Fockers,” and most of them fall flat.

De Niro’s schtick — where he’s basically spoofing the tough-guy persona he’s created for four decades — is wearing thin.

Hoffman and Streisand are funny at times, but they could’ve been much funnier had they been given better material. Teri Polo and Blythe Danner are virtually invisible in this movie. Lucky them.

If you’re really in the mood for a good Ben Stiller movie about families and quirky parents, rent “Flirting With Disaster,” a hilarious movie Stiller did a few years back where he plays an orphan traveling cross-country to find his birth parents.

It puts “Meet the Fockers” to shame.

GRADE: C