Same format brings big laughs

Spending time with families and loved ones is synonymous with the Christmas season.

It can be a time to reflect on what is most important in life - the people around you.

Sometimes an aid to that reflection can come from unusual sources - enter the third instalment of the Fockers, Meet The Parents: Little Fockers.

Not only will you leave with an aching side and a cheesy grin, you'll have a heart bursting with gratitude that your family is nothing like the Focker-Byrnes relationship.

It is 10 years since the Fockers first graced our screens and Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) and his control-freak father-in-law Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) have lost none of their ability to make you cringe and laugh.

Don't go and expect anything different from the first two Focker blockbusters - the latest is a series of non-stop gags _ and Stiller and De Niro are still sensational and well supported by a great cast including Dustin Hoffman, Barbara Streisand and Owen Wilson.

The lovely Jessica Alba gushes with admiration for nurse Focker and is determined to make him a medical "rock star" on the corporate speaking circuit.

Of course Byrnes has never needed much of a reason to suspect the worst of Focker, who in turn is a natural at getting himself into compromising situations.

This is the source of some great moments in their never-ending adversarial relationship - none better than when Byrnes has a dalliance with a new-to-the-market Viagra-type drug and Focker is called on to restore things to normal - a scenario that no little Focker should ever have to witness.

If you are after serious cinema save your money, but if you're ready for a laugh and a bit of fun after a busy Christmas, the Little Fockers could be just what Father Christmas ordered.