Sequel goes full baklava
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
(out of 4) Starring Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Andrea Martin, Michael Constantine, Lainie Kazan and Elena Kampouris. Opens Friday at GTA theatres. Directed by Kirk Jones. 94 minutes. PG
Early in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, devoted daughter Toula (Nia Vardalos) persuades her Windex-spritzing father Gus (Michael Constantine) to have a piece of baklava — which of course means a lot of it. “I’ll bring the tray,” she tells him. The movie is like that, too. This belated sequel to the record-setting 2002 romantic comedy goes full baklava, happily loading on the sweet fun. Those who loved the original should at least like the sequel, which remarkably has reunited all of the players from the oversized cast. Anyone who somehow missed the first movie, or maybe doesn’t enjoy baklava, can take comfort in knowing that this Greek-immersion experience is painless — and also relativity brisk, at a running time of 94 minutes.
Writer/actor Vardalos recycles all of her jokes, mainly the one about the immense immigrant family in Chicago (Toronto again stands in) that “sees no difference between hugging and suffocation.”
The10-years-after story finds Toula and her gentle WASP hubby Ian (John Corbett) vainly looking for some alone time to rekindle their romance, while at the same time clinging to their college-bound teen daughter Paris (new face Elena Kampouris).
Kirk Jones directs, employing the family whimsy he mastered in Waking Ned Devine and Nanny McPhee. He and Vardalos hit all the sitcom beats, bouzouki music signalling them like a Greek take on Seinfeld’s funky bass.
What about the wedding? The contrivance here isn’t that Toula and Ian are forced to remarry, which would have been too much. Instead, it’s Gus and his bride Maria (Lainie Kazan) discovering that their half century of wedded fuss isn’t legal, since the priest neglected to sign their marriage certificate.
What to do? Get married again — but only if Gus properly proposes to Maria this time. Something better than, “I’m going to America. Are you coming, or not?” He grouses; she insists. Would you have guessed?
This allows for amiable meddlers like Aunt Voula (the eversharp Andrea Martin) and Portokalos clan matriarch Yiayia (Bess Meisler, who is like Harpo Marx reborn) to shamelessly steal scenes, again.
Everybody is having such a great time, let us not begrudge their opa! I quote a great Greek philosopher: “Shut up and eat your baklava.”