My Big Fat Greek Wedding
It has been 14 years since writer-actress Nia Vardalos scored a surprise hit with My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but she thankfully remembers what worked in the previous film. On occasion, she and British director Kirk Jones rely a little too much on the previous film’s goodwill. It’s time to retire the Windex gag.
Still, Vardalos does a few things that keep the second installment from becoming as stale as 14-yearold baklava. She acknowledges time has passed instead of pretending that it hasn’t. She also approaches her smothering supporting characters with enough affection to prevent them from becoming annoying.
Toula (Vardalos) may still be married to the WASPy Ian (John Corbett), but she has to help her father Gus (Michael Constantine) manage his restaurant because the Internet has ended a lot of travel agencies, including hers.
She also finds herself bound to her Hellenic roots because her
teenage daughter Paris (Elena Kampouris) is planning for college and doesn’t want to stay in Chicago. Like Toula, Paris finds her large Greek family downright smothering. If they’re not following her around like Taylor Swift’s entourage, they’re giving her advice that isn’t terribly helpful. At 17, she still has time to find a suitor, and it’s probably OK if he isn’t Greek.
While Gus is trying to find a groom for Paris and to prove that he is a descendant of Alexander the Great (that might be a little tough because Alexander was Macedonian), he discovers that his strict values haven’t fully applied to his own life.
While reviewing his records, he discovers that his marriage license from back in the old country was never properly signed and that for over half a century, he and his wife, Maria (Lainie Kazan), have been “living in sin.”
It turns out that tying the knot again isn’t so simple. Maria is understandably miffed that Gus never bothered to woo her properly. His idea of a proposal was simply suggesting they move to the States. Just as Gus can’t get past telling everybody how the Greeks have invented everything (he probably can find Greek origins for Windex),
he can’t overcome his own pride enough to provide the romance Maria has craved for years.
Vardalos may be providing the material, but thankfully, she’s not using all of it on herself. Part of the reason both of the Weddings work is that many of the choice sequences are given to her deep supporting cast. SCTV alumna Andrea Martin is a scream as Toula’s domineering aunt Voula, and Constantine has a gift for making Gus proud of his roots without coming off as an annoying chauvinist.
That said, some of the subplots are more engaging than others. Joey Fatone’s Angelo has a secret that’s obvious from the opening frames. Even staunchly traditional Greeks should be able to detect it. They did invent democracy, after all.
Jones doesn’t bring anything distinctive to the film, which is a shame because
his debut film, Waking Ned Devine, like My Big Fat Greek Wedding, was a charming, if more low-key, effort. Still, keeping all of the strong personalities corralled while keeping sequel-itis to a minimum is a formidable achievement.