Written by Nia Vardalos
Directed by Joel Zwick

Cultural humor can be a dicey subject.  Quite often, even when there is humor to be found at a difference in cultures, there’s a tendency in Hollywood to exaggerate it to the point of being unbelievable.

Fortunately, that didn’t happen with My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  Much of the credit for this goes to Nia Vardalos who wrote the screenplay in addition to starring in the film as Toula Portokalos, a woman of Greek heritage who falls in love with someone non-Greek and must cope with the clash of the two worlds.

At the opening of the film, Toula is a rather plain woman who is still living at home with her Greek parents and working in their restaurant.  Although her father (portrayed by Michael Constantine) would like to see her married, Toula has few prospects and feels out of place as a dark, Greek woman in a white-bread, Barbie-dominated world.

One day, Ian Miller (portrayed by John Corbett) walks into the restaurant.  Toula is smitten.  She decides to take courses at the local college.  Her mother helps her convince her over-protective father that this is a good thing for her.  Toula begins to change how she looks as well, changing her hair and wearing contact lenses.  Soon she is helping her aunt at her travel agency, where she encounters Ian once again.

At this point, My Big Fat Greek Wedding easily could have taken it in a different direction – Toula could have tried to hide who her family is and who she is.  I am glad they Nia didn’t opt to take the story in that direction, nor did Hollywood change the story into something like that, which is honestly what I expected.  Ian remembers her from the restaurant, but even then he saw beyond what was on the outside, which is nice.  It’s not like Toula changed to “catch” him, she changed for herself.  At the same time, Ian changes to make Toula happy.

Ian’s parents aren’t terribly comfortable with Toula’s family when they get together.  Toula and Ian are planning on getting married and their idea is a quiet reception at the Country Club.  Toula’s family believes in a loud Greek Orthodox wedding with an even louder and rowdy reception.  Fortunately, Ian is a sort of easy-going guy who goes along with much of it, even the taunts he gets as Toula’s brother and cousin try to teach him some Greek phrases.

The film is really a nice romantic comedy and it’s nice to see a film where the male lead does the most changing to make the situation work.  It seems that too often the woman must do whatever she can to catch the man, including changing who she is and compromising her beliefs.  Ian isn’t doing that her – it’s apparent he loves Toula deeply and just wants to make her happy, whatever he can.

The acting is terrific.  Nia Vardalos did this role originally as a one-woman show so she has it down pretty pat, plus it’s based on her own recollections of her life when her non-Greek husband was brought into the fold of her family.  John Corbett is a terrific counterpart for her.  His acting style has generally been pretty laid-back and it’s a natural place for him.  Michael Constantine as Toula’s father is excellent.  Instead of being overbearing, he is someone who is trying to adjust to a degree to the changing world as he loves his daughter very much while at the same time carrying on the Greek traditions he’s proud of.  I didn’t see anything mean in the way this role was portrayed, and I really liked how the wives knew how to work a situation to manipulate him into deciding what they wanted him to.  Some might say it shouldn’t be that way, but this was a funny way of showing who ruled the home while letting the man think he still had all the authority, which was the norm for the culture he came from.

The DVD was good quality and I have no complaints about the picture or sound quality.  The only special features on this was a commentary and cast biographies, which is a shame.  I would have liked to have seen more behind-the-scenes of the filming and such.  The commentary is also a bit lacking in that it is dominated by Nia Vardalos rather than having the feel of an ensemble between her, John Corbett, and Director Joel Zwick.

I have a friend who grew up in the very same Greek community this was filmed in, in Toronto, Canada (the film itself is set in Chicago) and he got a huge laugh out of it saying it was really spot-on in many ways.  I enjoyed it immensely and watched it recently again with my daughters who also got a good laugh out of it.  It’s got a nice message about being true to yourself and not being embarrassed of where you come from or your family, as well as being able to laugh at some of life’s most embarrassing moments.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.



SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Cast Bios
• Commentary with Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, and Director Joel Zwick