Dustin Hoffman seems to have become confused somewhere along the promotional trail for his new abomination of a movie (that went to the top of the US weekend box office while people were widely inebriated and their defenses were down). The actor, starring in another movie about the worst sides of family life, says he too dislikes the twin notions of marriage and family. ‘There is nothing more unnatural than family or marriage. That’s why they’re both so difficult,’ said Hoffman, at the Little Fockers New York press junket. ‘You just wake up and suddenly clunk, you’re ready. ‘Okay, I guess that’s it.” The twice-married actor adds, ‘There’s nothing wrong with courting or romance, it just shouldn’t have to go into a contractual phase, which is marriage.’ His solution? ‘Arranged marriages I think make a lot of sense because you’re not under the pressure of being in love. It’s an easy contract. You don’t have to like each other and then whatever happens, happens.’ Pick the names of your future loved ones out of a hat, so Hoffman doesn’t have to listen to you whine about the perils of courting. And so you don’t have to listen to the 73-year-old say ‘courting.’
