My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

7/10

Starring

Nia Vardalos

John Corbett

Lainie Kazan

Michael Constantine

Directed by Joel Zwick

Nia Vardalos wrote a masterpiece of a screenplay and when the movie was made with her starring in it, she nor the studio could believe the movie would be a sleeper box office hit. I mean, the budget was just $5 million and the take home was over $360 million.

It set box office records during its release, and the film at the 75th Academy Awards, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Not only that it was a great production and was well received by all.

This romantic dramedy starts with us getting some depth into our lead, Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos (Nia Vardalos). She is from a traditional fanatic Greek family, who follow some kind of rules in their little family. They all work for each other, the ladies get married to Greek men and have many kids.

She was different, Toula wanted something more in life and that made it difficult for her to get in line with the way of the family. She was a source of worry to her family and to herself. One day a man walked into the family owned restaurant for a meal and Toula was head over heels hooked on him.

This was a man she could like she hoped. Things didn’t kick off there as Toula decided to get a new job away from the restaurant with the help of her mum and aunt. She was working at her aunt’s travel agency and there she runs into the man again. Long story short, they fell in love and wanted to get married. Problem is, that is against the family tradition and she is now stuck with her father wanting her to do what he believes is the right thing and find a Greek man or stick it out with her choice.

Now do not get lost thinking this was some kind of romantic driven chick-flick, the comedy and fun is how things turned out great and the wedding that followed.

In the end the movie was just an amazing romantic comedy that deserved all the praises that it got. I do not know why this was done, but a second part called, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 was done and released fourteen years after the first film. It was neither a critical or commercial success as the first film even though it was written by Vardalos and starred practically the same cast. The whole spirit of the first film was missing in this sequel.

Here is a movie that is fun to watch after you give it some gap. The movie is interesting, engaging and please oh please skip the second part, it was not worth seeing in the end.