Reviewer's Rating 4 out of 5 Μύ
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
PG

"There are two kinds of people," claims family patriarch Gus Portokalos (Constantine), "Greeks and everyone who wishes they were Greek". For his 30-year-old daughter, Toula (Vardalos), it's exactly this kind of thinking that makes her desperate to get out of her parents' house.

So when she's swept off her feet by high school teacher Ian (Corbett), she thinks she's finally met the man she wants to marry. Only problem is he's definitely not Greek.

Based on Nia Vardalos' one-woman stage play about growing up in a Greek-American family, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is a feelgood romantic comedy with a wonderful sense of humour. Taken from the stage to the screen under the watchful eye of producer Tom Hanks (whose marriage to a Greek woman made him an instant fan, and who was sure enough of the material to resist demands that it be transformed into "My Big Fat Hispanic Wedding"), this is a hilarious tale of love, moussaka, and culture clash.

As the writer-star, Vardalos displays a near-perfect sense of comic timing. It's impossible to imagine anyone else in the role of the downtrodden daughter who breaks out of the smothering confines of her family and gets her own life.

With a host of wonderful supporting characters (the Greek grandmother who speaks no English, keeps a knife under her pillow and is always running from the Turks), some wry observations on family life (Toula's dad thinks every ailment from psoriasis to poison ivy can be cured using Windex cleaner) and a great feelgood ending, this will have all non-Greeks in the audience wishing they could lay claim to some Mediterranean heritage.

End Credits

Director: Joel Zwick

Writer: Nia Vardalos

Stars: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Michael Constantine, Andrea Martin, Lainie Kazan, Kaylee Vieira, John Kalangis

Genre: Comedy

Length: 95 minutes

Cinema: 20 September 2002

Country: USA

Cinema Search

Where can I see this film?

New Releases