(That’s one brave WASP, I tell ya what….)
CAST: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Lainie Kazan, Michael Constantine, Gia Carides, Andrea Martin, Joey Fatone, Fiona Reid, Bruce Gray.
DIRECTOR: Joel Zwick
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and larger-than-life Greek-Americans straight ahead…
MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING has a special place in my heart. Growing up in a bi-cultural household, I could totally relate to the experiences of Toula Pourtokalos (Nia Vardalos). But it’s not my viewpoint that this movie most closely aligns with. Nope, that honor would go to my Pops. Being a strapping German/Norwegian farm boy from the Great Lakes who looks like a Nordic cross between Harrison Ford and Richard Gere, he must have been quite the oddity to my Mom’s Southeast Asian family. I can only imagine the figurative cannonball jump his presence must have had on the proverbial pool of their daily lives.
I can just picture Dad attending the first huge get-together with my maternal relatives. He’s even worse than me when it comes to putting his foot in his mouth, which is like saying someone is actually more profane than Cartman from SOUTH PARK. Pops must have asked several questions over and over again at the party, like: (1) “Where did all these kids come from? Oh, wait… they’re not kids… they’re just short.” (2) “What’s Manuel doing with that gun? Oh. FUCK!!!” (3) “Honey, is it normal for people in your country to put leftovers in their handbags? And some of the smaller furniture?” (4) “Can you folks explain to me - in ten words or less, please - what the fuck you’re doing with that dog?” and, of course, my favorite: (5) “You want me to eat WHAT!?!?”
I’ll say this for Dad, though: at least my Mom’s people loved him from the get go. It wasn’t so much a question of if she should marry him, but rather: (1) “When is the wedding? Hurry up! Hurry up!” (2) “Can we come and visit whenever we want without advance notice?” (3) “Can we serve fermented shrimp paste and boiled chicken feet at the reception?” (4) “Since the fusion of Scandinavian genes and Asian genes will likely produce kids that are tall and exotically gorgeous, can we be their talent agents?”
Well, at least they got the “tall” part right. But I digress…
Anyhow, Toula’s love interest in MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING, Ian Miller (John Corbett), doesn’t have it as easy as my Dad did. Nope, not even close. Toula’s family reacts to the news that they are dating as if she just told them she has decided to become a Turkish citizen. Pops (Michael Constantine), in particular, acts like it is the end of the world as they know it. And he definitely ain’t feeling fine.
See, Pops just recently allowed Toula to go back to school and take computer classes that have helped her leave behind the family restaurant and start working in… the family travel agency. It ain’t exactly moving to New York to start her own on-line magazine, but Pops treats it as such. And Ian showing his pasty face to ask for Toula’s hand in marriage is like someone coming up to him while he’s carrying several huge boxes of feta cheese and baklava - and kicking him right in the nuts.
And so begins Ian’s quest to try to win over Toula’s family. There are many challenges in his way, such as: (1) he’s a vegetarian, and they seem to never eat anything unless it had parents; (2) they are loud and explosive and he’s about as aggressive as a comatose puppy dog, (3) he is of a different religious persuasion than them, meaning they think he’s basically the devil, (4) and his parents are about as energetic and vibrant as wilted celery, making it a complete mystery where Ian got his personality from. Ahem.
So… the important questions… Will Ian ever win the approval of the Portokalos clan? Does he have some secret allies and supporters within the family? And if so, will they talk some sense into that fucking Pops? Will Toula rethink her love for Ian? What about Ian? Will he realize he can marry some blonde chick from an Irish-American family instead, and not have to worry about what the fuck he’s eating? Speaking of food, will Ian’s parents be able to explain the concept of a Bundt cake to Toula’s family? Were Ian and Toula really meant for each other? And the most pressing question of all: why doesn’t Joey Fatone have more lines in this goddamned movie!?!?!
I’ll say one thing: I’m pretty sure my Dad didn’t have to squat in a kid’s wading pool in the middle of a church to get baptized in order to win my Mom’s hand. At least, that I know of…
BUT, SERIOUSLY: There are some movies that are the cinematic equivalent of a warm, comforting blanket. For me, MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING is one of those movies. Maybe it’s because it deals with the importance of family, the eccentricities of an ethnic clan, and also shows the inner-workings of that clan in a humorous way. Whatever it is, this movie never fails to put a smile on my face.
It wasn’t always like that, though. I first saw MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING on a flight to Europe. This was at the tail end of its remarkable North American box-office run that eventually nabbed it a total domestic gross of $241 million - making it the highest grossing romantic comedy ever. Naturally, I was eager and expectant. I mean, if a flick that no one even heard about comes out of nowhere and rakes in that kind of dough, it has to have something going for it.
Well, let’s just say that when I landed in Italy, I got off that plane disappointed. While I certainly laughed a lot and thought the movie was solid, I was expecting more from a film that took the world by storm and bagged over $241 million. It wasn’t until I rented the DVD the following year and watched the film from a different perspective - that it clicked.
See, I was expecting a conventional love story. You know… boy-meets-girl, boy-falls-for-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-fights-to-get-girl-back, boy-and-girl-live-happily-ever-after. The things is MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING is not a love story between Ian and Toula. It is that only on the surface. At its core, though, the film is about the family and Ian, and how they eventually accept him into the family. It’s also about Ian’s fish-out-of-water experiences as he is slowly assimilated into the Portokalos rhythms.
Once I watched the movie through this viewpoint, it all made sense, and I realized what I was watching was an unconventional love story. Not so much between man and woman, because Ian and Toula’s bond is unassailable, but between two cultures. It’s between Ian and the Greek culture of the family that he is about to be a part of. Once that conflict is resolved in the third act, it becomes just a matter of watching all the pieces of the wedding fall into place. And it’s a delight to watch.
MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING is a love letter to large, crazy, quirky families all over the world - regardless of ethnic background. The cast of characters is colorful and vivid, and the actors and actresses playing them are all perfect. Nia Vardalos and John Corbett make one sweet couple. Vardalos, in particular, deserves special mention for making Toula a relatable blend of old-world traditions and new-world assertiveness. She is beautiful and lovely in a way that is real and relatable, and this everywoman quality sells the character. The supporting cast is flawless, with Lainie Kazan, Michael Constantine, Louis Mandylor, Gia Carides, Andrea Martin, and Joey Fatone nailing all their lines. And as Ian’s befuddled parents, Fiona Reid and Bruce Gray are appropriately shell-shocked and hilarious.
Anyone for a moussaka and baklava run?
