Oh, well, not all Greek weddings are alike.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
Grade: C+
Director: Kirk Jones (everybody’s fine)
Screenplay: Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding)
Cast: Vardalos, John Corbett (Northern Exposure)
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 94 min
by John DeSando
“Ian and I are just looking for time to ourselves.” Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 would be hard-pressed to outdo its original from 14 years ago (the highest grossing romantic comedy of all time), and it doesn’t. Let’s just say you’d be better off seeing the Indian Monsoon Wedding or American Wedding Crashers for more original wit. But Big 2 has a conceit of elderly parents having to wed again because of faulty paperwork 50 years ago that is original and at times amusing. Other moments of ethnic humor, when extended beyond the expiration date, are simply stereotypes and clichés.
Director Kirk Jones and writer Nia Vardalos guide the action from Greek family tropes (Yes, they live close to each other; yes, they nosey into each other’s business; yes, they want to marry someone Greek, blah, blah, blah.) to any family ‘s challenges (yes they have a snotty teenage daughter, Paris, played by Elena Koumporis; yes, Toula played by Vardalos and Ian played by John Corbett, have not been romantic lately because of the family dramas; yes, Greek aunts , uncles, grandparents and everyone else are eccentric, fun loving, and full of mischief, etc.
After you accept these clichés as part of a recycle, then you can enjoy some poignant moments of humor based on humanity’s capability of being goofy no matter what your family lineage. Toula and Ian’s struggle to accept gracefully Paris’s wanting to go away from Chicago for college is real and underplayed although the bit runs too long like the Greek family’s penchant to be collectively at every moment, no matter how personal.
Other moments are either repetitions of previous comedic bits or plain corny. Grandpa Gus (Michael Constantine) is still claiming ad nauseam that all good things have Greek origins and that Windex cures all. Gus looks old enough to croak on a second honeymoon, and Lainie Kazan as grandma looks like she would crush him in that activity. Nevertheless, Vardalos brings a charm, emphasized by many medium to close up shots of her looking dazed and confused and unremittingly loving. She has given herself and her husband little to do other than that.
But as this time of year yields few winners, I have to say My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is minimally enjoyable enough to make you think a second marriage could be fun.
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.rr.com
