“Little Fockers” - Robert De Niro’s Circle of Trust
Who’s in and who’s out?
Synopsis: 10 years have passed since Greg (and his parents) gained the full trust of his father-in-law Jack Byrnes. Now that he and Pam are finally married with kids, things are going smoothly. But before Jack can pass him the torch to become the next patriarch, he needs to approve of just one more person: Greg… again.
How has Jack Byrnes evolved?
Few people could have foreseen Jack Byrnes’ evolution from ex-CIA operative to horny grandpa with cardiac issues.
But as we gaze backward from the third and final installment of his and Greg’s story, the writing was on the wall: Greg taught him how to love and the Fockers taught him to fuck. Too much of those things in excess is sure to strain an unconditioned heart. It’s like running hill sprints after sitting on the couch for 15 years straight.
That is, basically, the Jack Byrnes we meet in Little Fockers. Undoubtedly, he’s learned more from the Focker clan about living the golden years than he even realizes.
But this is still Jack Byrnes we’re talking about here—vigilant, paranoid…
Stressed.
Sex drive and love aside, that’s the real cause of his heart whoopsies—a lifelong visit from the anxiety fairy.
Amid his ongoing health issues, Jack has become obsessed with his genealogy, specifically with preserving the Byrnes lineage. This comes after his youngest daughter Debby’s recent divorce from her husband Bob Banks (Bob, MD).
With Bob now out of the picture, Jack is left with only one man to pick up the family mantle: Greg.
Even after kicking Greg out of the Circle of Trust, before bringing him back in again, then kicking him out again, then bringing him back in again, over and over again over the course of, like, 12 years—and even after he and Pam have gotten married, had kids and enjoyed a happy, beautiful life together—there’s just something about that fucking Greg guy that Jack doesn’t like:
Do I trust him with my Pam? Uppercase ‘No.’ Do I trust him to administer a shot of adrenaline into my hard penis to counteract the effects of an erectile dysfunction pill? … lowercase ‘yes.’
Does anyone move in or out of the Circle of Trust?
Few acquaintances of Robert De Niro’s have experienced a fall from grace as dramatic as Bob Banks’s. A former golden boy, Bob was unceremoniously jettisoned from the Byrnes family tree after he was caught cheating on Debby with one of his nurses.
His rosewood plaque on the wall is thrust from its plinth and his smiling face is excised from family photos. At one point, Jack even suggests sneaking into Bob’s house and planting an explosive device in his oven. Of course, he doesn’t take it that far. If this were Goodfellas, Bob would be butchered into pieces and fed to zoo animals. Instead, he gets the PG punishment for betraying Robert De Niro. Eliminating Bob from their life metaphorically is good enough.
So Jack offers the “GodFocker” role to Greg, who eagerly accepts. The problem is, Jack develops some misgivings about his son-in-law’s abilities to rule the family.
It starts with minor things, like Greg’s inability to properly carve a turkey or Greg’s odd parenting style. There’s also the fact that Greg’s son Henry is an idiot, which raises questions about Greg’s own genes.
Jack’s concerns are magnified when he discovers a box of erectile dysfunction pills in Greg’s closet. Assuming Greg is no longer sexually attracted to Pam, he begins to tail Greg and comes to suspect that he is having an affair.
It’s important to note that it is entirely unclear what becoming the family patriarch entails. It seems like the position comes with a lot of pressure, but the only thing Jack seems to care about is Greg and Pam’s sex life.
Has he taken Rozalin and Bernie Focker’s teachings too far? It’s possible.
At any rate, he wants a rock-hard stud to lead his family into the future. Deciding that Greg is no longer that dude, he pressures Pam to get back together with Kevin, because he’s wealthier and has a robust sex drive.
Fed up with each other’s bullshit, Jack and Greg get into a proper fist fight. Greg wins because Jack has a heart attack. But like the good medical practitioner he is, Greg saves Jack’s life.
And so, finally, wrapping the sloppiest bow on the Byrnes-Focker saga, Jack welcomes Greg back into the Circle of Trust for good.
Join us next week for: The Mission (1986)
Check out the Robert De Niro Circle of Trust spreadsheet here.
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