Meet the Parents has become one of the ultimate sleeper comedy hits of our generation. Before premiering more than four years ago, no one could have anticipated that Ben Stiller would be able to hold a movie on his own or that Robert De Niro could even begin to be funny.

My, how the times have changed.

Stiller is now one of the most popular comedic actors in the business and De Niro can't seem to soothe his funny bone itch. Most of credit for these transitions lies within the unwavering realm of fanaticism that surrounds Meet the Parents.

By taking a seemingly simple concept -- guy goes to meet his girlfriend's parents and all hell breaks loose -- and surrounding it with a talented cast and director, the movie has been able to hit home on all levels for people around the globe.

So naturally, a sequel to the hit film was almost as inevitable as Stiller's character, Gaylord Focker, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Thus, we have been offered up a chance to Meet the Fockers.

The first question that you have to ask when a sequel is produced is whether or not it is a necessary one. Certainly, when considering the extreme popularity of its predecessor, Meet the Fockers was necessary for both audiences and money-minded studio heads alike.

Now, all we can do is evaluate the product that Stiller, De Niro and returning director Jay Roach have presented to us. The truth is, as a movie on the whole, Meet the Fockers is merely a mediocre one, and as a sequel, it's not much more. Sure, there are some laugh-out-loud moments in this film; a scene where Stiller undertakes the arduous task of babysitting his soon-to-be nephew comes to mind. And almost as sure, the casting in the movie is inspired, with Dustin Hoffman hitting on all comedic cylinders as Bernie Focker -- he nearly matches the feat De Niro pulled off in the first movie -- and Barbara Streisand playing just zany enough as his wife Roz. But this is where the praise ultimately stops for Meet the Fockers. De Niro and Stiller -- so right in tune with their characters in the first film -- seem to have lost the urge to take Jack Byrnes and Gaylord Focker any further. And the rest of the film feels like déjà vu all over again as we're given virtually the same scenes as the first movie with a slightly different spin on them.

With all of this being the case, you have to wonder why Roach and his returning screenwriters, John Hamburg and Jim Herzfeld, could have let such a repetitive film ever hit the screen. Well, the truth is that sequel audiences, especially in the comedy genre, rarely care about character development or new story arcs. Primarily, their interests are going to be about getting to see some old friends up to their same old tricks. And with Meet the Fockers, that's exactly what they're going to get.

But this isn't so bad right? After all, as long as there are some funny moments thrown into what is basically a rehash of one of the funniest films of all time, it has to be at least somewhat decent. True, Meet the Fockers is a decent sequel, but only a mediocre film.