My
Big Fat Greek Wedding was written by Nia Vardalos, who also stars as Toula Portokalos,
a prettyish, but frumpy second-generation Greek girl whose manifest destiny is
to marry a Greek man and make Greek babies. Just ask her parents (Michael Constantine)
and (Lainie Kazan), though they have their doubts, as they consider Toula to be
a bit plain and in the first part of the movie they exaggerate this a bit much.
She works at the family restaurant (Dancing Zorba's) and has aspirations getting
a college degree and shaking off the shackles of the Dancing Zorba - much to the
dismay of her old-fashioned Greek Dad.
She
doesn’t faint from following her dreams and before you know it she’s
learned a few tips about hairstyle and makeup and is suddenly as pretty as we
knew she was all along. She even takes a job in a travel agency which is where
she meets a dream-boat of an English-teacher named Ian Miller (John Corbett),
who adores her. They date. They fall for one another and now there’s only
one little obstacle Corbett isn’t Greek - he’s not even slightly swarthy.
With
a film like My Big Fat Greek Wedding we all know how it’s going to end from
the get-go - so the challenge of the filmmakers is to make this journey as fun
and unpredictable as they can. Of course we know that her father is going to bridle
at the notion of a Non-Greek in the family, but will eventually relent in the
interest of family harmony and the happiness of his daughter. Some things turn
out a lot messier in real life, but in the sunny world of "My Big Fat Greek
Wedding," conflicts are handled with yelling, emotion and love. And then
everybody gets high on uzo and there is dancing and joyous tears. The movie lives
in a world that makes the rest of us feel like our lives are pretty passionless
affairs.
The performances
are picture-perfect, from Vardalos as the self-deprecating Toula, to Corbett's
hansome and charming Ian, to Louis Mandylor as Toula's sweet younger brother,
to Andrea Martin as a sharp, nosy aunt. ("I could snap you like chicken!"
she yells in regards to Toula's perceived boniness.) And let's not overlook Kazan
and Constantine as Toula's parents, they are wonderful as are a number of the
lesser relatives that all acquit themselves well.
There
are some terrifically sweet moments that take the movie from merely a funny comedy
to a touching and wonderful film. As Toula walks down the aisle, we notice the
groom's side of the church has five or six people in it, while the bride's side
has dozens. Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents -- everyone is there for Toula's
special day. Anyone who comes from a huge family will tell you that it's reassuring
to be surrounded by so many people who love you, no matter how crazy they are.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding doesn't just celebrate the ideas of family, tradition
and love; it revels in it.
