My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2002
In a summer of one short-lived overhyped blockbuster after another, this is the cute funny romance that no one else came up with. It takes some chances, instead of casting a Meg Ryan, Sandra Bullock, or Julia Roberts as the hard-up but ridiculously attractive girl looking for romance you get a plain (putting it kindly) Greek girl of 30 who looks even older. This is far more realistic even though I’m not sure how realistic the love at first sight aspect is.
The romance takes a back seat to showing us her family. There are some cute scenes and the characters are fun, but not of much depth. And that’s really the whole movie. You’ve seen a lot of this type of thing before with funny, bizarre families, no doubt based on the writer’s own family. Still it’s fun to watch and the characters grow on you as the movie continues. The central character’s own cynicism keeps things on an even keel, neither becoming an advertisement for Greek culture nor an indictment. This isn’t a great movie, but it’s a good date movie and a good way to spend a couple of hours.
I’ll give it a B.
Owned on: DVD