With Meet The Fockers surpassing all those sniffy, not-so-great expectations, it seems a fine time to revisit Jay Roach's sparkling 2000 original. De Niro elevates his criminally underused gift for comic grumpiness to high farce as the demonic dad out to obsessively scrutinise Stiller's wannabe son-in-law (""Are you a pothead, Focker?"").

The biggest surprise is how the Austin Powers helmer manages to be just as hilarious in a domestic setting. Roach plays it like an extended sitcom, taking great pleasure in dumping his characters into an admirably silly and consistent world of slapstick cringe. It's a pick'n'mix of best bits... The cat and the ashes, the nipples, the polygraph, the `Puff The Magic Dragon' chit-chat, the highly informative cancer poem, the baggage-handler conversation...

Hardcore churls may snort at the sixth-formy, sounds-a-bit-rude reliance. But the De Niro/Stiller chemistry really kicks, and, lest we forget, this was the first film to recognise the potential of Stiller and Owen Wilson's screen partnership - the beginning of a beautiful friendship for comedy fans, cinema managers and DVD retailers everywhere. Which begs the question: why the hell isn't the latter back for the follow-up?

DVD Extras:

This is the Special Edition, right? So where exactly is the Stiller-De Niro gab-track from the Region One release? It's an infuriating omission that reveals this repackaged version's true identity as a sequel-plugging cash-cow. Certainly, there's a director-editor commentary and a pair of deleted scenes; you also get two helpings of outtakes and a De Niro Unplugged offcut that finds the Method Man massacring `Love Is In The Air'. The rest, though, is a Focking disgrace: bland featurettes on polygraphs and animal wranglers, a pathetic Jay Roach "profile" and a theatrical trailer for - guess what? - Meet The Fockers. This disc should be taken down to Chinatown.