*** Official "MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING" Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

Holy mother of Windex, I can't remember the last time I was crying throughout a film from the laughter coming out of my mouth and gut. Even when I saw the punchline coming a mile away, it's the characters are written to be so internally consistent that it may be even funnier knowing what's coming. There's this instant familiarity in this film that engaged me, and had me almost nearly rolling down the aisle (I did have an aisle seat) at some of the utter zaniness from the humor. And furthermore, there's some real heart felt connections/emotions and side stories of going after what you want and still being able to maintain a balance between your family background/past, and who you'll become in the future.

Sure, it's not one of those meaty films that make you all introspecty-like, but for almost 2 hours, I was transported into a story of a culture clash romance/marriage that results in so many laughs/minute that I was totally entertained by the film, and so was the audience that saw it with me.

I give it 4 stars,or a grade of A.

 

[Tino]

Well Whaddya Know. Patrick and I finally agree on a recent film!
My Big Fat Greek Wedding was hilarious. I was also laughing almost non-stop from beginning to end of this wonderfully charming "little" film.
The film was filled with so much love that it is impossible to resist. Sure some of the comedy is played out broadly
and Greek traditions are exaggerated and played for laughs, but you could substitute 90% of the Greek humor with Italian and still be pretty much spot on. Many of my Italian family members act exactly like the Greek ones portrayed here. For that matter, you could probably substitute any number of nationalities with everyone seeing their family up there on the screen.
I really don't think that anyone going to see this film really believes that all Greek families are like this, so rest easy Dennis and Steve. You guys got it easy. We Italians have had to deal with the Godfather/Goodfellas/Sopranos Syndrome for a loooong time. Welcome to the stereotype club!
Nonetheless, this film is a treat and highly recommended. :star::star::star:1/2

 

[Seth Paxton]

I suppose some non-viewers might wander in here...

one of the biggest laughs

when John Corbett burns his hand on the plate and dad immediately whips out the Windex. Corbett's reaction is freaking hilarious.

Another great laugh is when Corbett is doing the funny walk and runs into the old lady. A great, slightly surprising physical gag.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Stop the presses, Tino and I agree!

Another funny line that was sort of crushed by laughter was when

"Harry" Miller asked Rodney Miller what the priest was saying, and Rodney say "It's all Greek to me." Hahahahaha.
.

Joel Zwick, the director, has a long history of directing TV comedies/sitcoms, thus the deft directorial touch for all the comedic moments/timing.

Is he related to Ed Zwick at all?

 

[Stevan Lay]

Patrick and I finally agree on a recent film!

Sold!
I'll be asking my local theater for the release date on this one tommorrow.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Congratulations to the film's distributor, IFC Films, which earlier this year is responsible for distributing another highly successful, critically acclaimed and, in my judgement, the best film so far this year through a platform release, Y Tu Mama Tambien.
~Edwin

 

[Dennis Pagoulatos]

Well...I did it...
I watched MBFGW again finally...in the hopes that my somewhat cynical view of the movie would change...and it did, to a certain extent. I enjoyed the movie a lot more this time around, and was less annoyed by the stereotypes than I was during my first viewing. I can see why the movie is successful, it's definitely funny, and Nia Vardalos' personality fills the screen each time she's on it (thankfully most of the movie) Most of the broad gags do work well, and apart from some jokes that fall flat (IMO), the movie is entertaining. Now, the negative (you knew this was coming!):
The romance between her and John Corbett's character just does not seem believable to me; he seems to be sleepwalking
through the movie in fact, and this takes a great deal away from the film as a whole since he is such a pivotal character.
He looks like a guy who doesn't quite get the joke that you just told at a party, but, heck dude, he'll sorta laugh anyway...but not really; know what I mean?
Overall, my revised view (in a less distressed state) after my first viewing:
2.75 out of 5 stars...could be much much better but still an undeniably fun piece of fluff.
Edwin- definitely agreed on Y Tu Mama Tambien...by far the best film so far this year!
-Dennis

 

[BrianB]

My wife & I saw this during the week, and absolutely LOVED it. As a "mixed marriage" of a Scotsman & an Italian-American, it struck a chord with us bigtime.
For a weekday matinee performance, the theatre was pretty busy. Two women did a Greek dance out the doors at the end - I think they liked it too

 

[Larry Price]

Finally got around to seeing this last night, and it gets my thumbs up. Even trying to get my parents to see this since my sister is seeing someone who is not Jewish.

Although its about Greek culture, the lessons can be applied to almost any culture.

BTW - Lainie Kazan is Jewish, so her "Russian" like accent is probably from her own background.

Ooopa. (was that the toast?)

 

[SteveK]

I'm glad to see this thread revived. I saw this movie a few weeks ago at a theater, and I was surprised at the average age of the audience, as it was much older than the typical movie. I would say the average age was at least 50. The movie itself was very enjoyable, and it was a delight to hear so many people laughing so loudly. After it was over, the lady behind me said to her friend, "Just wait until I tell the girls about this". You could tell that she also very much enjoyed the movie.

Yes, it played upon stereotypes and exaggeration, but it was still one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time. And I haven't heard that much laughter at a theater in years.

Definitely worth seeing.

Steve K.

 

[Rob P S]

Great to see that after four months in release this wonderful movie is still going strong, while the overhyped summer blockbusters come and go. It should pass $50 million within the next few days.

 

[MichaelPe]

It should pass $50 million within the next few days.

It opens today in Montreal, so I hope it will reach $50M soon. It has been marketed extensively here since we have a very large Greek community, and as mentioned by Larry, almost any culture can appreciate this film. I can't wait to see it again!

 

[Vickie_M]

My husband and I saw this last night (along with The Kid Stays In The Picture) and we both had a great time. I was surprised that on a Thursday night, the theater was over half full. Everyone was laughing throughout.
Unlike some, I did like John Corbett. I've never seen Sex In The City and only watched a few episodes of Northern Exposure (really, the only movie I've seen him in, after scanning his IMDB page, is Dinner Rush) and I thought he was cute as could be, dreamy and sweet. I loved their love story and they had chemistry to me.
I came away from the movie deeply, DEEPLY, envious, because my family is nothing like that. We're all distant and non-communicative. How cool it must be to be born into or marry into a family so large and warm and fun and loving and wonderful!
I had to dig hard to find any complaints, but I did come up with a couple:
1) It was set in Chicago but filmed in Toronto. They apparently used some stock footage of the Chicago L. I know it would have been more expensive, but I wish they'd filmed it here.
2) I LOVE GREEK MUSIC and was hoping to hear more of it. I'm a sucker for the voices of women like Haris Alexiou, Alkistis Protopsalti and Eleftheria Arvanitaki (going by memory here, and I probably spelled their names wrong) so it would have been nice to hear some. That would probably have added to the cost of the movie though.
Other than that, it's sweet and small and nice and good and we liked it quite a bit!

 

[Matthew_Millheiser]

You know, I really enjoyed My Big Fat Greek Wedding because, while I am not Greek, I saw a lot of similarities with my own family (Jewish and Portuguese) and that of my girlfriend's (Cuban American). OK, the Windex thing is new to me, but I had an Uncle who'd chew aluminum foil religiously and claim that it was good for your teeth.... :rolleyes
I'm in agreement that the relationship between the two leads seemed to be the weakest aspect of the film, but then again it really wasn't the focus of the narrative. It was the family's reaction to the cross-culture relationship that was the emotional core of this movie. It wasn't a "will-they-or-won't-they" type of story, more of a "what-happends-when-they-do" tale.
Although the bland, colorless, WASP-y parents bit was something of a cliche, one seen way too many times.
As far as broad stereotypes: I'm not Greek, so I can't comment. However, I know sometimes I cringe when I watch a Woody Allen film or a Seinfeld episode and see caricaturish Jewish family members and characters. But then I also realize that these stereotypes come from somewhere, that ethnic reflection that sometimes you really don't want others to see...

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Finally joined the pack, and I had a great time! This is my kind of comedy...my wife and I spent much of the running time laughing, and I am glad members here directed towards this great effort!
Very charming and funny. 8.5/10
Thanks HTF,
Chuck

 

[Larry Price]

Just got this via email about tonites (8/20) program

"It's a brand new thing for me to walk down the street and have people say, 'I love your movie. What's your name?'... The funniest thing about being kind of this known person is that people feel like they can say anything that they want to me...a woman came up to me at a department store and she said, 'I'm Israeli. I love your movie. I love your movie.

How did they make you look so fat?"

--Actress Nia Vardalos, who wrote the screenplay and plays the lead in the film "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"

America loves underdogs. And Nia Vardalos is this summer's favorite underdog. She bucked the Hollywood establishment, has the sleeper hit of the season, and is giddy with the instant fame.

It's almost unheard of that a low-budget film without big studio backing can take the box office by storm. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is, like the storybook about the engine, the little film that could. What began as a small, $5 million movie has so far grossed more than 10 times that and has now cracked 1,000 theaters nationwide. Wonderful reviews ("A small treaure of human comedy") and and word-of-mouth has vaulted it to the number 6 spot in box office sales last week.

Nia Vardalos, grew up in a Greek family in Winnepeg, joined Chicago's Second City improv troupe and eventually wrote a one-woman play about growing up Greek. It was a huge hit, but the huge break came when Rita Wilson, a Greek-American actress, saw the play in L.A., recognized her life and passed it on to her husband's production company. Wilson's

husband? A fellow named Tom Hanks. Hanks and his partner Gary Goetzman produced the film. Other producers had expressed interest, but wanted to change the story to an Italian or Hispanic Wedding.

Vardalos stuck to her guns. It was her story and the film would be about her family, a Greek family, where the overbearing mother overfeeds her kids and tells them, "When I was you age, we didn't have food!" Hanks and Wilson backed Vardalos and allowed her to star in the film. And now, as she tells Ted Koppel on tonight's UpClose, "It's chic to be Greek."

Richard Harris

Senior Producer

Nightline UpClose

 

[Gordon Moore]

Nia Vardalos, grew up in a Greek family in Winnepeg

Winnipeg! It's W-I-N-N-I-P-E-G!
Home of: Randy Bachman, Neil Young, Burton Cummings, Chantel Kreviazuk, Crash Test Dummies, Bredan Fehr, Len Cariou, Adam Beach (okay ,okay he's from Ashern Manitoba),Frantic Films (the effects team behind the 360 explosion in Swordfish), and apparently the adopted home of Shannon Doherty (lately...she's always up here shooting some tv movie of the week every couple of months).
Namesake of Winnie the Pooh and the largest Pooh festival in North America (you can giggle at that if you like)!
whew...I feel better now .
Oh, and the portrayal would be Greek-Canadians not Greek-Americans ...to be exact(since those are the experiences she's drawing from). Hey we Canadians can be patriotic occasionally

 

[Matt Stone]

Hey we Canadians can be patriotic occasionally

That reminds me of an old Dave Foley joke. "I'm Canadian...it's just like you, only without the gun."

 

[Gordon Moore]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Homer Simpson has been recently determined to be a Winnipeg'r as well...D'oh

 

[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now designated the Official Discussion Thread for "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". Please, post all comments, links to outside reviews, film and box office discussion items to this thread.
All HTF member film reviews of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" should be posted to the Official Review Thread.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Crawdaddy