My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

Director:

Joel Zwick

Writer (WGA):

Nia Vardalos (written by)

Release Date:

2 August 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Love is here to stay... so is her family.

Plot:

A young Greek woman falls in love with a non-Greek and struggles to get her family to accept him while she comes to terms with her heritage and cultural identity.

Plot Keywords:

Restaurant | Dancing | Travel Agency | Teacher | Wedding

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 16 wins & 23 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Nia Vardalos	...	Toula Portokalos
Michael Constantine	...	Gus Portokalos
Christina Eleusiniotis	...	Toula Portokalos - Age 6
Kaylee Vieira	...	Schoolgirl
John Kalangis	...	Greek Teacher
Lainie Kazan	...	Maria Portokalos
Marita Zouravlioff	...	Toula Portokalos - Age 12
Sarah Osman	...	Athena Portokalos - Age 15
Petra Wildgoose	...	Car Pool Friend
Melissa Todd	...	Car Pool Friend
Bess Meisler	...	Yiayia
Andrea Martin	...	Aunt Voula
Louis Mandylor	...	Nick Portokalos
Gerry Mendicino	...	Uncle Taki
Stavroula Logothettis	...	Athena

Also Known As:

Le mariage grec (Canada: French title) (TV title)
Mariage à la grecque (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for sensuality and language.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English | Greek

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Australia:PG (TV rating) | Iceland:L | Malaysia:U | New Zealand:G | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Canada:G (British Columbia/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/Manitoba/Ontario) | Finland:S | France:U | Germany:o.Al. (w) | Italy:T | Netherlands:AL | Peru:PT | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl | Switzerland:12 (canton of the Grisons) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:PG | USA:PG (certificate #38179) | Ireland:PG

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Gold Circle Films

Trivia:

In the fall of 2002 the film surpassed Dances with Wolves (1990) as the highest grossing movie never to have hit number one at the box office. By the weekend of October 4-6, it surpassed The Blair Witch Project (1999) as the highest-grossing independent film of all time, until March 2004, when it was surpassed by The Passion of the Christ (2004). Theatres continued to run the film after its initial video release.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Maria is telling her daughter about her life in Greece and why she left, it is obvious that the audio has been re-dubbed.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Gus Portokalos: [to Toula] You better get married soon. You're starting to look... old!

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 2003 IFP Independent Spirit Awards (2003) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Kefi In Katavia

A simple story about a girl in love.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a very simple, funny romance story that would probably be most appreciated by female audiences.

Nia Vardalos (the film's writer and star) is Toula Portokalos, a quiet young woman from a zany Greek family. As she explains in the great flashback introduction, all her life she has been brought up to be strictly Greek. But, the same upbringing also contains some traditional absuridites that she can't understand, although her parent's wish that she would adhere to. Toula's upbringing has only allowed her to look forward to one thing at this point in her life: get married to a nice Greek boy and have lots of babies.

This is not something Toula wants to here, and eventually, she gains the courage to break out of her introverted shield and gradually change herself into a bold, lovely woman. She stops working at her family's resturaunts and starts taking computer classes at the local college, which lead her not only to a better appreciation for herself, but leads to a job at her aunt's travel agency where she meets Ian Miller (Jon Corbet), and that is where our story begins.

Toula and Ian are in love, really very much so. But, this troubles Toula's mother and father, with her father (Michael Constantine) being more strict in traditional Greek upbringing than her mother (Lanie Kazan), when Ian proposes to Toula. For Toula's father, it is bad enough that she quit the family business to go to school and everything. But it is simply out of the question for him that she marry a non-Greek. So, Toula is torn between the two. This is a movie very much in the spirit of films like Bend it Like Beckham and somewhat like the Joy Luck Club in addressing roles of tradition in future generations of immigrants and the possibility and reason for preservation of such traditions.

Of course the film is a very simple movie, a simple love story, but a funny one nonetheless. We see the contrast between Toula's Greek upbringing, and Ian's very quiet, conservative family. Everyone was fantastic in this film, especially Lainie Kazan as Toula's mom, Michael Constantine as her father, and the wonderfully hilarious Andrea Martin as Toula's Aunt Voula.

I don't know the reason for so many negative reviews for this movie. I would say it was probably the best movie I saw in 2002, and one that I have seen many times since just because it a lovely little (and funny) story about a girl in love.