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In the original
film, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”,
Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos) was the
plain, 30-year-old single daughter of Greek
immigrants who expected her to “marry
a Greek boy, make Greek babies and feed
everyone until the day we die,” to
make the family proud. Toula wanted more
for herself, and while preparing to better
herself she met a tall handsome stranger
(John Corbett), who at first barely noticed
her. She started working on her education,
and gained the self-confidence she needed
to change not only her appearance, but her
attitude as well. The second time she met
the tall dark stranger she attracts his
attention. As their relationship grew, she
found that she had only one hurdle to overcome.
He wasn’t Greek!
“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”,
which was made for 5 million dollars, became
the sleeper hit of 2002 and went on to gross
over 185 million dollars in the theatres.
And I can see why. It was one of the most
charming and entertaining movies I can remember
seeing in the last several years.
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I was hooked into the story in the first few
minutes and loved every bit of it. It’s
one of those ‘movies everyone keeps saying
they should make more of, but no one goes to see’
films, only this time everyone went to see it!
I come from a fairly large Italian family, and
I’m aware of all odd customs and traditions
‘old world’ families have. As there
are so many similarities, I was completely able
to identify with the Portokalos family. From the
over-bearing, but loving father (Michael Constantine)
to Mama (Lain ie Kazan), the true head of the
family. I grew up knowing quite a few of these
people in my own family as well as some of my
friend’s families.
“My Big Fat Greek Wedding” was based
on a one-woman stage show written by the movie’s
star, Nia Vardalos, who used to be with Second
City. The show was seen by actress Rita Wilson,
after which she brought it to the attention of
her husband, Tom Hanks. The two thought it would
make a good movie so they had Vardalos adapt her
script into a screenplay and brought in Joel Zwick
to direct. And the rest, as they say was history.
Since the movie was so insanely popular, someone
had the thought that it might make a successful
transition to TV series. Unfortunately, the transition
wasn’t so smooth. Even though almost all
of the actors from the film continued in their
roles, they lost John Corbett as Toula’s
husband. He was replaced by Steven Eckholdt. And
then, for some reason, Toulas name was changed
to Nia (as in Vardalos).
The series only lasted seven episodes, and of
those I’m not even sure how many aired.
It was met by mixed reviews and just disappeared.
I never even got a chance to see the ones that
did air. I had wondered whether or not the show
was any good.
Thanks to Sony / Columbia Tristar, I finally
got to see for myself. The truth? The episodes
I saw were entertaining, I was never bored and
laughed at all the right places. BUT… it
just didn’t re-capture the magic of the
original film. The spark that was so strong between
Vardalos and Corbett didn’t exist between
Vardalos and Eckholdt.
If the series had been created on its own, with
no movie to back it up, I have no doubt that it
would have lasted longer, but it was destined
to be compared to and overshadowed by the original
film. It’s worth seeing if you only liked
or didn’t see the movie, but if you loved
the film, expect to be just a little disappointed.
Starring: Nia Vardalos, Steven Eckholdt, Lainie
Kazan, Michael Constantine, Louis Mandylor, Andrea
Martin
Extras: None
Specifications: Full Screen
Studio: Sony / Columbia Tristar
Release Date: 11/18/2003
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website
We'll give My Big Fat Greek Life a C+.
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