MovieChat Forums > Meet the Fockers (2004) Discussion > Am I the only one who hates Greg?

Am I the only one who hates Greg?

posted 8 years ago by physphilmusic
2 replies | jump to latest

I think this sequel was funnier than the first one, since we get to see Jack get a little taste of his own medicine from Greg's parents. But what I really hated about Greg is his complete lack of a spine. As pointed out by his parents, he's completely absorbed in the quest of trying to get Jack's approval. As I kept watching there were SO MANY instances when I would have told Jack to *beep* off. No more being cornered in closed spaces or being pressured to do things you didn't want. *beep* the circle of trust. *beep* WASP culture.

While Jack is of course also an uptight, domineering *beep* it seems to me that he would have not dared to keep intimidating Greg so much if at some point Greg had just clearly drawn the line. After all, Greg is a completely independent man with his own occupation and job, Jack is not his boss or anything. In my experience alpha-type people like Jack respect strength when it's showed to them. But if instead you're a scared little man who's willing to lie and cut corners in order to avoid their wrath (with disastrous results), that only makes them hate you more. I think the worst thing about these series of movies is that Greg doesn't show any character development. We see it a little in Jack, who's sometimes less uptight, but Greg is still the same pathetic little man in Meet the Parents. It's very infuriating. Anybody else agree?

[–] !!!deleted!!! (64820750) 8 years ago

Yes, I agree he was very spineless. However, Greg does stand up to him in the end when he's in the cell with him and his dad. They're all having an argument and Greg shuts them both up. He said he's starting his own circle of trust and so when Jack got mad, he said "do you want to be in the circle or not, Jack?" then he immediately backed down to him. So I would say there was some development there.

[–] huzdaman 7 years ago

The other part of Greg's personality that I loathed is he can't seem to tell the truth to save his life. If he had integrity, and simply told the truth from the first moment, he wouldn't get into such compromised situations. I know Jack is an XXX-hole, but I'm with him on that; you can't trust someone who won't tell the truth. I'd have been suspicious, and therefore protective over my daughter too.

That said, if Greg didn't lie he wouldn't set up the comic situations and we wouldn't have a movie.