My Big Fat Greek Wedding -- PG
Starring: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett
Directed by: Joel Zwick
Showing: Showplace East 11
For those of you expecting a frat guy and sorority to girl tie the knot in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," I have news for you. This is actually about Greek people with a capital G.
Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos) works in her family's Chicago area Greek restaurant called Dancing Zorba's. She is 30 and still lives at home. Her parents, played by Michael Constantine and Lainie Kazan, wonder when she will leave home, marry a good Greek boy and feed lots of Greek babies.
One day, Toula, feeling frustrated and lonely, goes back to school, freshens up her look and fashion sense and opens a travel agency. She meets the decidedly non-Greek Ian Miller (John Corbett), and they fall in love, which leads to the big fat Greek wedding.
Vardalos wrote the screenplay based on her one-woman play, which caught the eye of Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson, who is of Greek descent. Hanks and Wilson are two of the producers, and their eye for talent deserves credit. Vardalos does a good job of turning what could be a cliche-and-stereotype-fest into a sweet, often hilarious movie.
Yeah, the parents own a restaurant, the brother has dark, greasy hair and the wedding causes the poor bride's family to go nutty. But the characters are likable, loving and quirky enough to get beyond that.
Director Joel Zwick isn't afraid of the old school and Old World ethnicity as we see a Greek baptism and wedding. If there is a film called "My Big Fat Hungarian Wedding" coming out anytime soon, then it won't be confused with this film.
As an attendee of many big fat Greek weddings myself, I bought into the authenticity -- yes, even with 'NSync's Joey Fatone playing a small supporting role -- and the seriousness of the unwritten rules that do not embrace intermingling between Greeks and those of other faiths.
In addition, this film promotes empowerment regardless of ethnicity, religion and, by the end of the film, gender. As a result, you don't have to be Greek to enjoy it. That's because the message one walks away with is: If you want something to happen bad enough, then make it happen.
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