My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Nia Vardalos)

(Amazon UK link)

We wanted something light-weight and not too long to watch, and ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ seemed to fill those criteria perfectly. We last watched it in 2012; it’s one of the few films that I’ve now seen four times in all, but it’s extremely well-made with plenty of amusing scenes, and some excellent casting.

Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos) is the central character in this film. She’s the academic daughter in a typically Greek family living in the United States. There’s a hospitable mother, Maria, (Lainie Kazan) who regularly peels potatoes for thirty or more relatives, and who knows just how to deal with her very patriarchal husband Gus (Michael Constantine).

Gus is a typical (albeit caricatured) Greek who believes his culture is the best in the world. His children go to Greek school, and they’re expected to work in his family restaurant in their teens, and then marry Greeks so they can produce Greek babies. But Toula likes to study; she sees ways that the business could be more efficient, but her father doesn’t respect her ideas. It’s not that he’s unpleasant or unkind - he adores all his family. He’s just rather tunnel-visioned and can’t see beyond his own upbringing.

Toula, who is considered frumpish by her family, is attracted to a non-Greek American called Ian (John Corbett). By the time she meets him, she’s working for her aunt Voulla, and has somewhat upgraded her image to be more fashionable, and they quickly become friends. Then more than friends. But she knows her father won’t approve, and it’s not until they’re spotted by a neighbour that her family finds out about their romance.

We watched some of the extras this time - short snippets with several of the cast members - and were interested to learn that Nia Vardalos wrote a lot of the script, based on her own family and romantic life. That explains why it all feels so believable, albeit a tad caricatured. And of course Ian’s parents are equally caricatured - but believable - as a rather uptight and very respectable American family.

We remembered some of the more amusing lines, of course - the origin of the word ‘kimono’ as a supposed Greek word has become a classic reference, as has the idea of a mother as the ‘neck’ of the household, under the ‘head’ but entirely in control. But we’d forgotten a lot - including the way Ian is so good-natured, and so willing to enter into Toula’s world despite its being quite foreign to him.

The dialogue is excellent, the pace just right, the choreography superb… and the whole a very enjoyable, albeit light-hearted story of a cultural mix that actually works.

Highly recommended.

You can read other reviews and find out more information about this film, as well as a short trailer, here: My Big Fat Greek Wedding on IMDb.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews

Beaches (Bette Midler)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s nine years since we watched the film ‘Beaches’, and we’d totally forgotten what it was about. It was made in 1988, in a time when people had longer attention spans, so it’s over two hours - and last night, when we watched, we were captivated right from the start, unaware of the time passing.

Bette Midler is the main character, playing ‘CC’, who’s clearly a well-known and popular singing when we meet her at the start. She’s just finished rehearsing for a major concert when she’s handed a note - perhaps a telegram - which causes her to abandon everyone, and race to the airport. She doesn’t even tell anyone why she’s leaving.

CC is unable to get on a plane, so she rents a car and drives through the night. As she does so, she reminisces, and the majority of the film is a series of flashbacks, telling the story of her friendship with Hillary (Barbara Hershey) a girl who is different from her in just about every respect.

CC and Hillary meet when they are eleven. CC is street-wise, with a pushy mother who wants to exploit her talent. The 11-year-old CC is brilliantly played by Mayim Bailik, so much so that it was hard to believe she is not closely related to Bette Midler. I have no idea when the actresses switched during the years that are covered.

Hillary (whose 11-year-old self is played by Marcie Leeds) is wealthy, pretty, naive and lonely. Her father is distant, her mother died when she was younger, and she’s being brought up by an aunt. But she and CC decide to stay in touch, and they write letters over the years although they don’t meet again until they are adults.

It’s a wonderful friendship, which only starts to fray at the edges when CC gradually becomes more successful. She’s a remarkably self-centred person who doesn’t seem to care much for anyone (other than, perhaps, Hillary) as her career is all-absorbing. Hillary is a brilliant lawyer, but gives up her career when she gets married, and CC is very disapproving.

The script is excellent, the pace exactly right to tell the story. There are some light-hearted parts, and one very bawdy scene where Hillary and her husband disapprove of a musical CC is in. There’s also a great deal of poignancy towards the end, and both the women have to come to terms with what their friendship really means.

It’s only at the very end that we discover why CC has rushed away from her concert, finally putting her ambition aside for the sake of someone else. It’s all extremely moving, with some positive scenes right at the end.

The rating was originally 15 but it was changed to 12 (PG-12 in the US) which seems about right to me. There are a few instances of bad language, but they’re not inappropriate or excessive. There are a couple of intimate scenes but they’re tastefully done, and while there are innuendoes and casual talk about one-night stands and infidelity, there’s nothing too overt. I don’t suppose anyone younger than about twelve or thirteen would be interested in it anyway, but I’d have no problem showing it to a reasonably mature teenager of about thirteen or older.

Definitely recommended if you like films of this kind: a character-based drama with a heart-wrenching climax.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (Nia Vardalos)

(Amazon UK link)

Sequels to films can be a disappointment, so I didn’t take much notice when I heard that ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2’ was being produced. It didn’t even have an original title; we very much enjoyed the first ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’, but I expected that this version would be a pale imitation, or perhaps the same over again.

However, reviews were favourable, so when the DVD became available and the price wasn’t too high, I put it on my wishlist, and was given it for Christmas. We were hoping to see it with our younger son but he hasn’t been around for a while, so last night we watched it with some friends who also liked the first film.

The story involves the same family, but takes place ten years after the epilogue to the first film. Toula (Nia Vardalos) and Ian (John Corbett) are still happily married, although they don’t see much of each other; their daughter Paris (Elena Kampouris) is now 17, and starting to look at university applications. Her grandparents want her to marry a Greek boy, but, like her mother, she wants to be independent and make her own decisions.

The ‘wedding’ in this movie takes place towards the end and turns the story upside down; it’s an amusing twist, although most of the reviews I had read gave spoilers, so I knew it was coming. It didn’t matter, really; the preparations, and the closeness of the Greek family remain amusing, with interludes in the family restaurant, and a couple of episodes where even small children have fun trying to find Greek derivations for words in the English language.

There’s plenty of humour that made us smile, including one or two places where we laughed aloud. Greek culture is clearly caricatured, but so is American culture, and the clashes between the two are shown, although not as obviously as in the first film. And yes, there's much that's a re-hash of what worked so well in the original movie - but we didn't have a problem with that.

It’s a story about marriage, primarily; about the kind of relationship that lasts decades, moving through difficulties and arguments, finding what loyalty and long-lasting love really mean. As such I thought it quite uplifting, in a light-hearted way. Of course some of the scenes are exaggerated, although having lived for nearly 20 years in a country that’s culturally Greek, they’re not as caricatured as some would assume.

It’s also about the balance of culture and freedom, of the empowerment of women, and of the difficulties of letting go of teenagers. But they’re not issues that are pushed; they’re there to be picked up or ignored. The film moves at a good pace, and I found myself quite involved in the family dynamics, oddly disappointed when it ended.

All in all, I thought it was a good film, and pleasant for a relaxed evening’s viewing without too much brain power needed. It helps to have seen the first film, but probably isn’t essential.

Rated 12 (12A in the US) which I think is about right. While there's no nudity or violence, and I didn't notice any bad language at all, there are several suggestive scenes and references, and frank discussions about making babies that would be irrelevant and possibly embarrassing to younger children.

Definitely recommended.

Review copyright 2017 Sue's DVD Reviews

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Nia Vardalos)

(Amazon UK link)

It's very rare for me to re-watch films - at least, it has been. While I re-read favourite books fairly regularly, the imagery of movies tends to stay with me longer and I'm far less likely to think of seeing something I've seen before, unless it was twenty or more years ago in the cinema.

However, some teenage friends have started coming over a couple of times per month to watch films of their choice from our collection; time was limited on Sunday, and the choice was 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding', which I saw, for the second time, less than two years ago.  I thought I might get bored, or even drop off... but found that I enjoyed it very much indeed.

The story revolves around Tula (played exceptionally well by Nia Vardalos), a Greek girl living in the United States. Her family are loud, and cheerful, and hard-working; caricatured, perhaps, and yet there's a great deal that we recognise, after living for fifteen years in Cyprus, where culture is very similar to that of Greece. Tula is expected to marry a nice Greek boy and raise Greek babies...

However, Tula is something of a geek, and does not appear to attract any boys, Greek or otherwise. She works in her father's restaurant, but is frustrated that it's a dead-end job which doesn't begin to take account of her intelligence. 

With her mother's help, she persuades her father to let her enrol on a computer course and then to work in the family travel agency... where she meets and falls in love with Ian (John Corbett) a quiet, all-American white English teacher. He is a very nice guy indeed, but absolutely not what her parents were hoping for.

That, basically, is the story. A young girl's bid for independence, and breaking out of the family expectations and stereotypes. Of course it pokes fun at Greek culture; it also pokes fun at American culture (Ian's parents are unbelievably naive, and don't appear to know about anything beyond US borders).  

Tula's father Gus (Michael Constantine - a Greek American by nationality) is absolutely brilliant in his exaggerated control of his family, his desire for tradition, yet with a deep love for all his family.  There are echoes of 'Fiddler on the Roof' in the story, as well as some very funny moments, no less amusing for knowing that they were coming.

I had forgotten a lot of the detail of this film, and found that I enjoyed it very much indeed. I'm a little surprised that it's only rated PG in both the UK and the US; the content would not be of much interest to anybody under the age of about 13 or 14, and although there's no nudity, bad language or sex, there is the end of a bedroom scene where it's very clear what has gone on - something which I would have expected to raise the rating to 12/PG-13.

All in all, I'd recommend it highly to teenagers and adults, particularly anyone who knows anything about Greek and American culture.

Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews