PoolMan's Rating: Well how about that? Suddenly I DO wish I was Greek! The food looks terrific!
PoolMan's Review: It's juuuuuuuuust about time someone gave Hollywood a polite tap on the shoulder, whispered in its ear, and got it to retire the Romanticom (tm) genre. On the predictability scale, romantic comedies are just this side of Justin on a Saturday night. (OW, MY PANCREAS!) I mean, let's face it, the formula's gotten so old and stale any shmoe in the audience can figure it out. Yes, they'll meet. Yes, they'll have a fallout. Yes, they'll bloody well fall in love. But wait! From out of the darkness comes a new kind of romantic comedy! Will it revolutionize the genre? Well, no. Will it make you rethink life? Nuh uh. Will it teach you the luxuries that are lamb meat and Windex? May I hear a "Hell, yes!"

"Will it make you rethink life? Nuh uh. Will it teach you the luxuries that are lamb meat and Windex? May I hear a 'Hell, yes!'"

By now you've heard of the legendary play-turned-movie that is My Big Fat Greek Wedding. At the time of this writing (Oct 2002), it's already moved into the number 1 position on the list of most profitable independent movies (moving past The Blair Witch Project). This movie is a colossal hit. You've probably seen it, and even if you haven't, I would put money on SOMEONE in your family or circle of friends having seen it.

The question is, however, is it really all that good? As a solid laugh machine, the answer is definitely a yes. Let's put it all in perspective. Chubby Greek girl Toula spends her entire life trying to outrun her heritage, hammered into her at every waking moment by her parents. Greek girls should marry Greek men, have babies, and eat. Such is their life, apparently. No, this isn't PoolMan's Big Fat Racist Diatribe, this is exactly what the movie presents to you. And every character in the film, barring Toula herself, seems to buy in. Toula decides she needs more out of life than just being a baby machine, however, and as she takes small but deeply fulfilling steps towards becoming her own person, she meets the love of her life: a non-Greek man. And thus the entire family gets thrown out of whack as Toula and her new beau, Ian, quickly get engaged.

As has been aptly pointed out to me, this is not a character study. Everybody you see up on screen is a pretty flat being. Poor Toula, always repressed. Poor Gus, the besieged father who can't get everyone to see his way. Poor Nick, the macho brother with the hidden artistic skills. And lastly, poor Ian, Mr No-Discernable-Flaws. If you expect any of these characters to change from start to finish you're in for a disappointment (Toula gets prettier, but she stays essentially the same bewildered smartass, and Gus may accept Ian, but he still sticks to his Greek Guns). This movie is written around a play, and is meant to play deeply off of one-note characters. One gets the feeling there was a lot left on the cutting room floor.

But that's just the bad news out of the way. The good news is you can finally take a large percentage of the old formula and throw it out the window. The love interest is simple and straightforward. No pallbearers, no mistaken identities, no cross dressing. Just two people who figure out they're crazy about each other. They meet, fall in love, and get engaged before you're through your $12 pop. The best news of all, however, is that this movie is just flat out hilarious. Whether you're Greek or not, the stereotypes and running gags they play up to illustrate the Greek way of life are just a riot. From the much-discussed use of Windex as a cure all to whether lamb is acceptable vegetarian cuisine, the jokes are written to be gotten by everybody, not just Grecians. The laughs are clean, solid, and constant. Heck, when they give Ian's father the one joke he gets to recite during the movie, it's a terrible pun, but it's somehow hysterical in the moment.

What really makes the whole thing work is that the themes at work here are universal, and obviously not limited to just the Greek community. Most people have an idea of what it's like to be embarrassed by their parents and background. A lot of us are well schooled in what it takes to infiltrate a family in the name of love. And hey, who hasn't ever run murderously after Joey Fatone after he makes you say something stupid in another language?

This is that rare movie you can take anybody to. It's charming, it's funny, and it's nice and light. So light, in fact, it still confuses me how it's the runaway smash it is, but it does a lot of things right that so many romantic comedies, and even most comedies in general, fail to do. Opah!

Justin's Rating: I do-be-do-be-do-wap
Justin's Review: In 1578 A.D. -- a quite momentous year by most standards -- the Battle of Gembloers took place, William Harvey discovered blood circulation, and Duke French van Anjou was recognized as protector of the Netherlands. Fascinating. That same year, My Big Fat Greek Wedding was released in theaters. It's been slowly gaining popularity and box office (the lack of a film projection unit for three hundred years hindered that somewhat), but now about the entire earth's population has seen this flick. Several times over.

"Our theater's audience had a rolickingly good time, with the old farts chuckling just as loud as the young farts."

Maybe I exaggerate a teensy bit, but MBFGW has had an obscenely long theater run by anyone's standards. Seeing a rolling release that has staying power is as rare a phenomenon in the movie business as John Travolta making a watchable piece of cinema. So while I demured and thought I'd wait for video for most of 2002, it's been such a long wait that I said, "heckwifit" and finally went to a matinee. A matinee on Thursday. A matinee that had at least half of the seats filled. Wow.

Apparently, Greek families are strange. This is news to me, as I consider just about every family and ethnicity as strange, but I'll go with it. They're a bit like Italians, with the voracious appetites and strong noses, but they also like to spit on people for good luck. Toula (Nia Vardalos) is Greek, but not as Greek as her entire family, who might be more comfortable talking to sympathetic doctors in padded cells. Toula's 30 and not very attractive; of course she's got the glasses (so they can come off!) and the frumpy shirt (likewise!) at the start, which had many viewers craning their necks looking for the pretty Hollywood starlet who was really going to be starring in this picture. Nothing doing, folks. But far be it from me to pick on how she looks, because Nia really is pretty, just not in a conventional way. Although, does anyone else think she's just a bit cross-eyed there?

There was a Greek girl in my high school named Fani (pronounced the way you think it is) who was some sort of Amazon goddess, towering over all of us with hair and height. I was a bit in love with her, I think, but also terrified that she might pick me up in one hand and drag me off to her mountain fortress. Ah, good times.

Toula falls in love with a non-Greek guy named Ian, who is the most BORING romantic interest in the world. I mean, I really do love this film, but they failed miserably to bring any depth to his character. He was more of a straight man for everyone to bounce their wacky jokes off of, and also to be Kind and Understanding whenever Toula's nutty family started spitting on everyone. I notice that there's this sort of double standard in a lot of romantic comedies: in a female-centered romantic comedy, the female is always super-interesting and the guy is blander than butter; in a male-centered romantic comedy, the female is always super-interesting and the guy has a couple scenes where he ponders deep stuff, sitting in front of the ocean surf at sunset and listening to the movie's soundtrack.

In comparison to other film genres, my standards for comedies are pretty darn simple -- make me laugh! A romantic comedy? Make me laugh while making me wish I was the guy on the screen! Now, I know that we here at MRFH are prone to colorful prose when it comes to trying to convey an emotion, but here I'm being very, very literal: sitting in the audience of MBFGW, I laughed until tears were pouring down my face. I loved laughing that much... it was a terrifically funny movie. Everyone was quirky and goofy as hell, from the Windex-bearing father to the mom who plants a flower in the middle of a bunt cake, and the film has got a perfect sense of comedic pacing that keeps building joke on joke until you can't breathe. Our theater's audience had a rolickingly good time, with the old farts chuckling just as loud as the young farts. This is a movie to see with a group of people, if there ever was one.

In closing, I'd like to quote the immortal words of Madonna: "Beauty is where you find it, not where you bump and grind it." Amen.

Andie's Rating: So if somebody that (pre-makeover) mousy-looking can snag Aidan from Sex & the City, there's hope for the rest of us! Yay.
Andie's Review: So really Pooly and J-man have said a lot of what I think of MBFGW, so I will try to keep this short and sweet so as not to make you ennui. (That means "to feel bored." I had to look it up today because it was a clue for the NY Times crossword puzzle). I rented this movie the other night and instantly fell head-over-heels in love with Nia Vardalos. This girl is fabulous! She's cute and funny and apparently she wrote MBFGW, which is impressive. I hope we see her do more stuff because she has the potential to blossom into a really great actress. I particularly liked the juxtaposition of her pride/love for her family and her utter embarrassment at what freaks they are, a predicament to which I'm sure we all can relate.

"Anyway, so Aunt Voula starts telling Aidan's parents about her lump that turned out to be her twin? Oh great googly-moogly, I almost peed my pants."

I agree with Justin, there was not a lot of fleshing out of characters. However, some of them were fantastic. I particularly liked Toula's mother and aunt. What a couple of characters! I thought Andrea Martin as the aunt was especially a stand-out. (What else would you expect from somebody named Andrea? Huh? That's what I thought.) I about wet myself when she started telling Aidan's parents (yes, I know his character is Ian and his real name is John, but he is AIDAN from Sex & the City and that's all there is to it. In my world, Chris Noth will forever be known as Mr. Big. Deal with it.)

Anyway, so Aunt Voula starts telling Aidan's parents about her lump that turned out to be her twin? Oh great googly-moogly, I almost peed my pants. You really can't go wrong with this movie, it is so great. I have gotten so tired of the relentless string of horrible romantic comedies that have come out lately that I was pleasantly surprised at how fresh and cute this one was. The whole movie is just a reel of comedic highlights and the first meeting scene and proposal scene are beautiful romantic highlights. I highly recommend this one. Sweet Home Alabama, Two Weeks Notice, Maid in Manhatten and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days it is not......

Fortunately.