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My Big FAT Greek Wedding
Studio: HBO
Year: 2002
Rated: PG
Film Length: 95 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 16X9 Enhanced Widescreen (1.85:1)
and Full Frame (1.33:1)
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish and Greek
Love is here to stay... so is her family.
You can talk all you want about the top grossing
films of 2002 that included Spider-Man, Lord
Of The Rings and Star Wars AOTC. But
the real film that is worthy of talking about is
My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the perfect example
of a little film that could. In fact My Big Fat
Greek Wedding is single-handedly the biggest
Hollywood success story ever -- the highest
earning independent film in history earning in
excess of 230.9 million dollars worldwide. That's
quite an achievement when you consider the film
was shot for just $5 million.
Over the past year, you couldn't help but hear
something about this film. In fact, this
feel-good romantic comedy became an out-of-nowhere
blockbuster just by viewers spreading the word. In
fact, word-of-mouth and repeated viewings kept the
movie remaining in the top 20 nine months after its
initial release.
I have to admit, I was just as curious as everyone
else about this movie, but I decided to wait until
the DVD was released to give this film a viewing.
Now that I have seen it, I can truly understand how
this romantic comedy about a young Greek-American
woman who seeks to persuade her family to accept her
non-Greek future husband became such a worldwide
success. In short, it's a well-written story with
a terrific ensemble cast who portray outrageously
funny characters -- all people you're happy to
spend time with.
This is the story of Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos),
a very plain, overweight and unhappy 30-year-old
single daughter of Greek immigrants who still lives
at home and works in the family restaurant as a
seating hostess. Her family is extremely Orthodox
and expect her to "marry a Greek boy, make Greek
babies and feed everyone until the day we die."
Her father Gus (Michael Constantine) is a very
loving man who believes Windex can cure almost
any ailment. His philosophy in life is that "there
are two kinds of people in this world -- Greeks
and everyone else who wishes they were Greek."
More than anything, Gus and his wife Maria (Lainie
Kazan),wants their daughter to get married to a
nice Greek boy and have babies.
Toula finally decides that enough is enough! She
goes to computer school, learns some makeup tips
and visits a hair stylist. She also meets a handsome
English-teacher dreamboat named Ian Miller (John
Corbett), who adores her. They date. They fall in
love. But how far can it go, with him being a
non-Greek?
As you would expect, Toula's parents immediately
reject the relationship though they are unable to
change their daughter's mind. Toula and Ian
begrudgingly move onto the next step-- planning a
big fat Greek wedding, which proves to be more
of a challenge than the couple intended.
This movie is actually based on an autobiographical
one-woman show written by Nia Vardalos. It was
actress Rita Wilson (wife of Tom Hanks) that fell
in love with the show and pushed to have the story
brought to the big screen. It was produced by Tom
Hanks and his partner Gary Goetzman.
I have to admit, though the film didn't provide
as many laughs as I had expected, I was having the
time of my life watching the film's outrageous cast
of characters, most notably, Toula’s meddling aunt
(Andrea Martin) who practically steals every scene
she's in. Though the family is at its craziest,
it's sort of reassuring to know that they all love
each other very much.
How is the transfer?
One must keep in mind that My Big Fat Greek
Wedding was a low-budget independent film
production. I say this, because while the overall
transfer is quite acceptable, it doesn't live up
to the polished look of more expensive blockbusters.
Though the print looks clean and mostly blemish-free,
it looks a bit drab. Images aren't overly sharp,
often seeming just a tad unfocused. There's a hint
of background noise throughout the film, and colors
seem to have a slightly muted look to them. This
isn't a bad transfer by any means, but as I stated,
it just doesn't have the brilliance and nice texture
that most of the "A" titles being released on DVD
have. I have a feeling this transfer is a very
accurate representation of how the film looked
theatrically.
The 5.1 Dolby Digital mix isn't much to talk about.
Audio remains mostly in the front channels, where
dialogue and action are accurately placed. As far
as effect noises go, the rears don't add much
support. The problem seems to be that the sound
level in the rear channels are much lower than
what I hear on other titles, so when there are
ambient noises, it doesn't come through as
distinctly. On the other hand, the rears do
provide support for Chris Wilson and Alexander
Janko's festive Greek score.
Special Features
My Big Fat Greek Wedding contains both
WIDESCREEN and FULL FRAME versions that can be
chosen following the film's Main Menu.
You know, I was just appalled at the fact that this
year's most successful film has gotten such a shabby
treatment for its DVD release. Other than the fact
that it contains a feature commentary, there is
nothing else to be had. You mean to tell me that
there were no promotional featurettes available?
How about a trailer for God's sake! This is certainly
a wedding thrown by cheapskates!
So let's talk about the DVDs only admirable feature,
the audio commentary by stars Nia Vardalos
(Toula), John Corbett (Ian) and director Joel Zwick.
It begins as Nia talks about this small little film
that the studio couldn't afford to advertise, so it
opened up in a very small circle of theaters where
it received incredible word-of-mouth. I had no
idea that Nia was an alumni of Second City, known for
playing dumpy-like woman characters. Joel Zwick
talks about the Greek diner setting which was
actually built on-location in a Supermarket. It's
kind of funny to hear Nina talk about her own life
and how closely it compares to the life of her
character, Toula. In fact, a lot of her personal
life experiences went into the character. Both
John and Joel give us some little tidbits about
the manner in which they filmed -- for instance,
it's interesting to learn that many of the footage
inside the Portokalos home were filmed weeks apart,
though they appear as one seamless 10-minute scene.
Nia just dominates this entire commentary, which
is sort of nice as she gives us some interesting
background on Greek culture, holidays and customs.
The film really is an accurate portrayal of what
a typical noisy Greek family is all about.
There is a rather extensive cast bio here,
giving some nice text history of all the major
cast members. It just falls short of being
perfect for the fact that it doesn't list a full
resume of all the films each actor has appeared in.
Final Thoughts
My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the film, is full
of chutzpah -- a pure delight from beginning to end.
Unfortunately, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the
DVD, comes up a little short in the Special Features
department. Still, I won't hesitate a second to
recommend this gentle good hearted film to everyone.
I'd like to take this quick moment to thank HBO
for giving me the opportunity to review this
title. The studio doesn't normally send me screener
product, and it is my hope that I will be reviewing
more of their product in the near future. By the
way, the pastries you sent along with the DVD were
delicious!
Release Date: February 11, 2003
All screen captures have been further compressed.
They are for illustrative purposes only and do not
represent actual picture quality
