My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

Poster from the Internet Movie Database
My Big Fat Greek Wedding's whole plot has been used countless times before. But director Joel Zwick and writer Nia Vardalos are able to make a witty, clever piece of work that stands out as "the summer's surprise hit".

Nia Vardalos also stars as Toula Portokalos, a 30-year-old member of her family who works in the family restaurant, Dancing Zorba's. She's, so to speak, nerdy and shy, and we learn (from very funny flashbacks) that she was never liked and had to go to "Greek School". Her father Gus (Michael Constantine) wants her to marry (a Greek, of course) so she can carry on the family. She, first, has to find a boyfriend.

Toula sees a man who's dining in her eatery and is flattered by him. She gets a makeover (she looks totally different) and goes to work in her family's travel agency, where he comes back and they soon start to date. Toula and Ian Miller (John Corbett) fall in love, and Ian asks Toula to marry him.

Obviously, Gus and the rest of the family doesn't want that. But, they insist, and the rest of the movie is about Ian's (and his parents's) adaptions to Greek customs. The house where they lived is the funniest part of the picture. Sure, it's not a big-budget hit, but t's a very funny piece of work.

N'Sync's Joey Fatone comes in (meaninglessly) as a cousin who "teaches" Ian some Greek. It's obvious that he was put in to attract pre-teen audiences. He was even credited in the ad! The characters were hard to keep track of, but in movies like this you need lots of them. And it didn't matter as long as you got the main few straight.

Many running jokes, such as the house, grew old after a while, but others, like the Windex, were funny all the way through the ending (which was great, by the way). My Big Fat Greek Wedding almost warrants enough laughs to guarantee a higher rating, but just misses.

Rated PG for language and sensuality.

Review Date: August 24, 2002