by Nia Vardalos
Gold Circle Films
We deliberately scheduled March’s Movie Matinee to complement the release of this movie-a sequel 18 years after the events of MBFGW, where we visit the Portokalos family and see what they’ve been up to. We also meet Toula’s daughter, Paris, as she tries to navigate a space for herself within and away from her huge, loud, Greek family.
Eighteen years after her wedding, Toula is back working in the diner and taking care of her aging parents. Ian is the principal at the high school where their daughter attends, and poor Paris is doing her best to be as American as a third generation Greek-American who lives next door to her grandparents can. Also, in an effort to prove that he is descended from Alexander the Great, Gus (Toula’s father) finds his marriage license and discovers that the priest never signed it- so he and Maria aren’t legally married, so, eventually, there’s another Big Fat Greek Wedding to rectify the situation.
Sequels are a tricky business, to be honest. What a lot of movies tend to do is go “what things did people talk about the most with the first movie? LET’S DO THAT BUT MORE,” and it’s not always a good way to make a movie. That’s kind of what happened here, and those are the weakest parts of the movie.
Gus’s grandsons doing the “you give me any word and I will trace it back to its Greek roots” (which goes on far too many times for it to be funny) and Aunt Voula going on and on about her weird medical issues, and Yaya being weird are just a few examples. There are a couple of cute homages – the diner now serves mini-bundt cakes with flowers in the holes- but there’s a lot of trying WAY too hard.
There’s a lot of sweet moments, too: Toula trying to figure out how to be a parent to a benignly rebellious daughter (she wears dark clothes and eyeliner and wants to go to school far away, and wants nothing to do with Greek Club) and learning how to let go is sweet. Maria and Gus getting married for reals is adorable.
Additionally, Toula and Ian have spent a lot of time being the Sandwich Generation. They’ve been taking care of Paris and now, since Paris is old enough to get her own sandwiches and Toula’s brother and sister have small children, Toula is the one who gets to deal with ferrying the parents to doctor’s appointments and such. So they haven’t had much time to work on THEM as a couple, and watching a middle-aged couple try to get their groove back was nice to see! I’m sure a lot of audience members appreciated seeing that reality reflected.
It’s also interesting how Toula and Paris are so alike in their desire to not be defined by their family, but even 18 years ago, Toula wasn’t willing to walk away from them, while Paris is ready to experiment with not being in the same block as her entire extended family. I liked that dynamic, but wanted to see more of that.
We also got to see what everyone else in the family was up to-Nikki is still Nikki, and Nick is now much older and with kids of his own. Angelo (Joey Fatone) gets his own little subplot, which is sweet and kind and I liked that. Mike, Ian’s BFF (and played by the Real Ian who is actually married to Nia Vardalos), is married to one of Toula’s cousins and is involved in the family. Plus, we get to peek in on Ian’s family. (But only for just a little bit, and there’s no discussion of how Paris relates to her other grandparents at ALL.)
Andrea Martin as Aunt Voula steals the movie. She’s there as Maria’s sister and best friend and the assistant matriarch to the Portokalos clan. She just jumps into everything she’s given whole hog and holds nothing back, even if what she’s given is ridiculous.
When the movie wasn’t actively trying to recreate parts of the first movie, it was a sweet little movie. It’s not going to win any awards and it’s not, by any means, good. But I enjoyed parts of it, and the HUGE audience full of older Greek people really enjoyed it a lot. Maybe this isn’t worth a full-price movie ticket, but I can totally see myself not turning it off when I stumble on it on cable.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is in theaters now and you can find tickets (US) at Fandango and Moviefone.
This is pretty much what I thought of the movie….I just felt like it tried too hard at times. I also felt that there were too many threads going at once. I think if they had just focused on Ian and Toula, both their relationship with each other and with their parents and child, it would have been a better movie.
But, the first movie is one of my very favorites–so I will admit to enjoying the sequel more than it deserved!
I must agree about trying too hard, as well as missing the opportunity for Toula to plant her flag; it was pretty clear she chose her family over Ian most of the time and I would have liked to see that worked out. Your point about Paris and her non-relationship with Ian’s parents is spot on, too. Overall, I am glad I saw it and enjoyed much of it, even Yaya.
The final song/closing credits was written and sung by Rita Wilson, I believe, which was a nice touch.
I saw it and paid matinee price. I enjoyed it. Not the greatest movie ever, not the worst. Was a fun movie, and my husband wasn’t the only husband in the theater. That was the best part–going on a date with my husband.