MickeyMoose15
09-02-2002, 07:24 PM
IFC's My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Released April 19th, 2002
Starring: Nia Vardalos, Gia Carides, John Corbett, Joey Fatone, Ian Gomez, Bruce Gray, Louis Mandylor, Andrea Martin
Director: Joel Zwick
Premise: This is the story of Nia Vardalos, a young Greek woman who fell in love with a man who isn't Greek, and what that meant to her and her family as the big day approached.
The Summer of 2002 has been filled to capacity with tremendous box office hits like Spider-Man, Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones, Austin Powers in Goldmember and Signs, much like any other summer. But this year is different for one specific reason: There have been very little surprises. Movies that were said to do well, did well and those that were demmed to fail, died a dog's death at the box office. But there is one film out there that seperates itself from the rest of the pack. My Big Fat Greek Wedding has to be the biggest surprise of the summer. The movie opened in limited release back in April 2002 but has slowly gained theaters each weekend. Not only that but it seems to have found a wide audience which is more then willing to take the whole family to it over the some what big budgeted films like S1m0ne, Serving Sara, and Feardot.com. The movie has received a ton of buzz from movie goers but will it live up to the hype?
This is the story of Toula Portokalos who grows up in a large family of Greeks. Everything they do or say has something to do with the Greeks. Her father goes on and on about how every word can be rooted back to the Greeks. She finds every about her family weird including how her father uses Windex to cure any rash. She then meets Ian Miller, who falls head over heels for. Their romance soon blossoms and they plan to get married. But Toula soon realizes that the family will be in the way and fears that Ian will not willing to marry her after what her family makes him go through to be more Greek, which he is not. The story is amazingly well done. The story doesn't slow down almost at all and when it does, it is for the appropriate reasons. They hammer a lot of the same jokes but they are funny every time they are shown. This has to be one of the better story lines for a movie this year.
The characters of My Big Fat Greek Wedding are wonderfully played by everybody. To keep up the same act of playing this amazingly annoying family member shows great talent among the cast. Nia Vardalos is fabulous as Toula Portokalos. She plays off of every action her family does with great talent. When I heard that a member of *NSYNC was going to be in this film, I groaned at the thought of it. But Joey Fatone did a better job then most would have thought. At least there is one member of that boy band who actually has talent outside of lip syncing.
Overall, My Big Fat Greek Wedding is the biggest surprise of the year. Everything in this movie worked perfectly. Some of the jokes in the film that were used over and over did get tiresome but this is something so little to pick at that it means almost nothing. The main problem I had with the movie was the time length. Not that it was too long but that the film felt way too short. I wanted more explained about the family and more to be shown but felt a little short changed. Nothing really big to pick at but something to note. I did get the ending that I felt the movie deserved to end this truely amazing feature. Here is hoping Hollywood gets the message that story and talent mean more then big names and a big budget.
My Rating: ****1/2 out of 5
Released April 19th, 2002
Starring: Nia Vardalos, Gia Carides, John Corbett, Joey Fatone, Ian Gomez, Bruce Gray, Louis Mandylor, Andrea Martin
Director: Joel Zwick
Premise: This is the story of Nia Vardalos, a young Greek woman who fell in love with a man who isn't Greek, and what that meant to her and her family as the big day approached.
The Summer of 2002 has been filled to capacity with tremendous box office hits like Spider-Man, Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones, Austin Powers in Goldmember and Signs, much like any other summer. But this year is different for one specific reason: There have been very little surprises. Movies that were said to do well, did well and those that were demmed to fail, died a dog's death at the box office. But there is one film out there that seperates itself from the rest of the pack. My Big Fat Greek Wedding has to be the biggest surprise of the summer. The movie opened in limited release back in April 2002 but has slowly gained theaters each weekend. Not only that but it seems to have found a wide audience which is more then willing to take the whole family to it over the some what big budgeted films like S1m0ne, Serving Sara, and Feardot.com. The movie has received a ton of buzz from movie goers but will it live up to the hype?
This is the story of Toula Portokalos who grows up in a large family of Greeks. Everything they do or say has something to do with the Greeks. Her father goes on and on about how every word can be rooted back to the Greeks. She finds every about her family weird including how her father uses Windex to cure any rash. She then meets Ian Miller, who falls head over heels for. Their romance soon blossoms and they plan to get married. But Toula soon realizes that the family will be in the way and fears that Ian will not willing to marry her after what her family makes him go through to be more Greek, which he is not. The story is amazingly well done. The story doesn't slow down almost at all and when it does, it is for the appropriate reasons. They hammer a lot of the same jokes but they are funny every time they are shown. This has to be one of the better story lines for a movie this year.
The characters of My Big Fat Greek Wedding are wonderfully played by everybody. To keep up the same act of playing this amazingly annoying family member shows great talent among the cast. Nia Vardalos is fabulous as Toula Portokalos. She plays off of every action her family does with great talent. When I heard that a member of *NSYNC was going to be in this film, I groaned at the thought of it. But Joey Fatone did a better job then most would have thought. At least there is one member of that boy band who actually has talent outside of lip syncing.
Overall, My Big Fat Greek Wedding is the biggest surprise of the year. Everything in this movie worked perfectly. Some of the jokes in the film that were used over and over did get tiresome but this is something so little to pick at that it means almost nothing. The main problem I had with the movie was the time length. Not that it was too long but that the film felt way too short. I wanted more explained about the family and more to be shown but felt a little short changed. Nothing really big to pick at but something to note. I did get the ending that I felt the movie deserved to end this truely amazing feature. Here is hoping Hollywood gets the message that story and talent mean more then big names and a big budget.
My Rating: ****1/2 out of 5