Movie Review: My Big Fat Greek Wedding

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Several years ago, a little known Greek comedienne put together a one-woman show in LA all about what she knows best: her big and proudly Greek family. One night, actress Rita Wilson (who happens to be both Greek herself as well Tom Hanks' wife) was in the audience. After falling in love with the performance, she brought her husband to see it. The next thing Nia Vardalos knew, she was receiving a telephone call from Tom Hanks telling her that he and his wife would like to see her little one-woman show made into a movie. And that's now Vardalos ended up on the big screen in what may be the most surprising movie of the year.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding is an independent film that was released earlier this year to a limited number of theatres. Word of mouth and excellent critical reviews resulted in the movie getting more publicity and a wide release. It's been successfully competing with much "bigger" films ever since, and wasn't far behind Signs and xXx in the recent box office statistics.

In the movie, Nia Vardalos plays Toula Portokalos, the daughter and middle child of proud Greek parents, Gus and Maria (played by Michael Constantine and Laine Kazan). Toula has grown up with her father urging her to marry a nice Greek boy, have lots of nice Greek babies, and "cook for everyone" until she dies. Having reached the age of 30 with no husband - Greek or otherwise - in sight, Gus is preparing to take desperate measures when Toula begins to take some measure of control in her life for herself. With interference run by her mother and her Aunt Voula (Andrea Martin), Toula takes college courses and gets a new job. She also meets a man she can love but who, unfortunately, is not Greek (John Corbett is adorable as Ian Miller). How Toula deals with her family's objections, her boyfriend's integration into a lifestyle utterly foreign to him, and myriad small disasters on the way to her big, fat Greek wedding is both touching and hysterically funny.

The acting in My Big Fat Greek Wedding is top notch, though Andrea Martin is a stand-out as the meddling but good-hearted Aunt Voula. Michael Constantine, who reportedly came out of retirement to take the part of Gus, is also just terrific. Not being Greek, I can't speak for the authenticity of many of the traditions, but because the writer, star, and one of the producers are Greek (as are many cast members, at the insistence of Vardalos), I'm going to assume the dances and boisterous family get-togethers are largely realistic. Whether the sets are entirely authentic or not isn't as important. Besides, the sets offered up humor of their own (wait until you see the Portokalos sofa).

The script for My Big Fat Greek Wedding is brilliantly written. Comedies can be over the top or can try too hard. They can also fall flat. This comedy, however, manages to stay utterly real at the same time it's peeing-your-pants funny. I saw this movie with two other women, both of whom were laughing as hard and as often as I was. And lest you fear this is a "chick flick", I overheard several men on the way out of the theatre who were making very favorable comments about the movie as well. As we approach the 9/11 anniversary, anything we can do to laugh and appreciate our families is a good thing. My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a very good thing.

FAMILY SUITABILITY: My Big Fat Greek Wedding is rated PG. There's nothing here that parents would find particularly objectionable for young children, though I can't see that anyone under 12 or so would get many of the funniest jokes. This would, by the way, be a really good date movie.