Serendipity (John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s not quite six years since we last watched the film ‘Serendipity’. However we don’t have a huge number of Christmas films, so they come around more often than our others. We vaguely remembered the story, but had forgotten most of the details.

While it’s not a traditional Christmas film, it starts (and finishes) in a well-decorated store in the run-up to Christmas. Kate Beckinsale is perfect as Sara, a young woman who wants to buy some black gloves. At the same moment, Jonathan (John Cusack) tries to take hold of them, as a present for his girlfriend. The two start by both claiming them, then insisting that the other have them - it feels quite believable, and shows their very likeable personalities right at the start.

Eventually Sara buys them, and agrees to treat Jonathan to some iced chocolate. They have a lot to talk about, and he is clearly very attracted to her; but they are both in other relationships. They part… and then for different reasons, bump into each other again, and decide to go ice skating…

Raising Helen (Kate Hudson)

(Amazon UK link)

We wanted something light to watch, so we decided on ‘Raising Helen’, a film which we first saw in 2014. My husband had forgotten it entirely; I remembered just an early scene around a dinner table with three sisters, one of whom was going to have a tragic accident. It’s no spoiler to say this, as the whole premise of the film is a young, single career-minded woman suddenly having to raise three children.

However I had entirely forgotten the opening sequences of the film. These are where we see the young woman (Kate Hudson) involved in the world of fashion, where she works as a successful agent, often flying around the country and working many late nights. I was also slightly puzzled that Kate Hudson’s character is called Helen, yet I was pretty sure she was the one who was going to end up doing the raising…

The bulk of the film involves Helen doing what she can to balance work and full-time parenting, something for which she does not feel at all ready. Fourteen-year-old Audrey (Hayden Panettiere) already has a fake ID and hangs out with unsuitable friends; Helen has been her ally up to now, so it’s a bit of a shock to both of them when Helen suddenly becomes an authority figure.

Henry (Spencer Breslin) is the second child, apparently quite stolid, caring more about his turtle than anything else. But while he’s always been keen on sport, in particular basketball, he suddenly refuses to join in anything. And then there’s little Sarah (Abigal Breslin) who believes her parents have just gone away for a while… and appears to be coping but little things can send her into tears of despair.

The children are an absolute delight; we were particularly impressed at Sarah, who is only supposed to to five although apparently the actress was a couple of years older when the film was made, and has gone on to be a popular and talented star. Her facial expressions and moods feel entirely believable and she delivers her lines perfectly. 

There’s a low-key romantic thread too, involving a friendly Lutheran Pastor called Dan (John Corbett - we couldn’t think where we had seen him before and had to look it up afterwards, with a ‘duh’ moment when we discovered that he was the male lead in ‘My Big Greek Fat Wedding’. Helen meets Dan when she enquires about a smaller, friendlier school that the children can all go to as they don’t want to be separated. I liked the low-key Christian thread, and a pastor shown as intelligent, caring, red-blooded and very human with a quirky sense of humour. 

I also very much appreciated that although this film is made for adults, it’s entirely clean. Rated PG, with a warning that some children might be traumatised by the idea of parents dying suddenly, there’s nothing that would offend any but the most prudish of parents. Having said that, there are many scantily-clad women in the fashion scenes; Audrey also likes to wear revealing clothes. There are some scenes that become a bit intense, with some yelling, but there’s no violence or extreme anger.  However there are no scenes of intimacy, or even innuendos.  I don’t recall any bad language, either. 

It’s really not a film for children, even though two of the main cast are children; it’s about Helen and the way she changes - helped in part by her older sister Jenny (Joan Cusack) who is quite uptight and very organised, and also a very strong woman. 

We both enjoyed the film very much and appreciated the ‘bloopers’ and ‘deleted scenes’ that were on the DVD as extras. Definitely recommended.

Review copyright 2023 Sue's DVD Reviews

My Big Fat Greek Wedding II (Nia Vardalos)

(Amazon UK link)

We decided we had seen enough Christmas films this month, and wanted something light-weight to see. ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding II’ seemed to fit the bill. We saw it in April 2017, which is only three and a half years ago, but since we re-watched the original ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ earlier this year, we thought it would be a good idea to see the sequel before we had forgotten all the characters.

The story takes place a decade or so after the end of the original - and the ending was just a cameo about eight years after the main film. The actors, almost all the same ones from the first film, look around the right age, which makes sense as this film came out fourteen years after the original. 

Toula (Nia Vardalos) remains the star. Nia Vardalos was also the inspiration and writer, growing up, as she did, in a Greek-Canadian family. Toula is happily married to Ian (John Corbett) although they seem to have lost some of their early intimacy… and he finds her family a bit overwhelming at times.

The most important new actress is Elena Kampouris, who plays Toula and Ian’s seventeen-year-old daughter Paris. She is perfect in the role as a teenager who loves her extended family, but is very frustrated by their extreme involvement in her life, and their determination to marry her off to a nice Greek boy, so she can make nice Greek babies. She’s the only girl in her generation - all her aunts and uncles have produced boys, who are growing up just like their grandparents.

However the ‘wedding’ of this film isn’t related to Paris, although we’re probably supposed to think that it will be, in an echo of the first film. Part of the storyline involves her increasing bids for autonomy, as she thinks about college applications and a date for her high school prom. In fact the ‘wedding’ part feels almost like an afterthought - it involves a legal anomaly, and while there’s a lot of preparation, and the event itself, it doesn’t feel like the main focus of the film.

The cast all feel realistic, if somewhat caricatured at times; so much so that we’d forgotten that most of them are not Greek. We were reminded when we watched some of the extras including a documentary about the making of the film. They clearly all bonded so well in the first film that they were happy to work together again a decade and a half later.

I love the way that family life is seen as so important in Greek culture, even if exaggerated in its closeness. Marriages are expected to last, families are expected to support each other no matter what. The contrast of cultures is shown in the American desire for independence rather the opposite of the Greek inter-dependence; despite my own Western European background, I found myself feeling more and more drawn to the mutual supportiveness of Toula's extended family, even if she finds them frustrating at times.

There’s plenty of humour as the film cleverly manages to caricature both Greek and American culture and society - not in an unkind way, but as someone seeing both from the inside. Living in a Greek-speaking country as we do, we could appreciate a lot of the side comments and Greek language jokes that might go over the heads of some - but it’s a film that could be enjoyed by anyone.

The rating is 12 in the UK, PG-13 in the US, which surprised me as I would have expected PG in both. There are sexual references, but they’re quite mild; I don’t recall any ‘strong’ language or profanity, and there’s no violence or anything frightening. The most steamy scene involves a married couple in a car, disturbed before anything much happens. Not that it would be of much interest to children or younger teens anyway.

Definitely recommended.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews

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

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

Raising Helen (Kate Hudson, John Corbett)

(Amazon UK link)

Browsing films a couple of years ago I saw 'Raising Helen' recommended to me by Amazon. The reviews mostly seemed positive, and although I wasn't really familiar with any of the cast. So it went on my wishlist and I forgot about it; so I was pleased to receive it for Christmas last year. Our 25-year-old son had not seen it, so with a spare evening a few days ago we sat down as a family to watch it.

Three grown-up sisters, celebrating a birthday. Two fairly laid-back, one quite stressed and rigid in her views. Two with families, one - the youngest - a glamorous career-girl. Tragedy strikes, and Helen (Kate Hudson) suddenly finds herself trying to house and raise three children: a moody teenage girl, a depressed pre-teen boy, and a smaller girl...

For a romantic comedy, this film starts in rather a dramatic way and has a thread of tragedy running through it, yet I thought it was very well handled. The three children are entirely believable, dealing with their grief in their different ways. We don't see scenes of trauma, just snapshots that felt poignantly real. Overall it's an encouraging story with quite a message of hope about working terrible situations.

It's also about the difficulties of balancing a career with parenthood, and as such might well upset some; yet, once again, the way it's handled seems quite realistic. As a parent myself (though never a glamorous wedded-to-career person) I could empathise quite strongly with Helen's difficulties.

It's not laugh-aloud funny, although there are plenty of light-hearted moments. Inevitably there's a growing romance, but it's not a passionate one - instead, it grows out of a low-key developing friendship. Unusually, and much to our relief, nobody was shown leaping into bed after the first kiss. The language is clean, too. There's plenty of love and understanding, and while there's a caricatured Asian neighbour (Sakina Jaffrey) who introduces a bit of slapstick, there's a likeable and believable pastor (John Corbett) who is neither elderly nor a dork.

I wouldn't rate this amongst my absolute favourites, but overall, we all enjoyed it very much. More thought-provoking than many films of this genre, and nicely done.

Review copyright 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

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Nia Vardalos)

(Amazon UK link)

Living in Cyprus, 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' was a remarkably popular film when it first came out, nearly ten years ago. So many people told us that we 'must' see it, that we finally got hold of the DVD and I saw it perhaps seven or eight years ago. I remember it being amusing, and somewhat caricatured, but I was tired and didn't fully appreciate it.

This year, some other friends who moved to Cyprus more recently had been told that they 'should' see it. So we arranged to get together for an evening, and although it's not often that I watch films more than once, it was Valentine's Day and seemed like suitable light entertainment.

I appreciated the film a great deal more, having now lived for over thirteen years in Cyprus. Having been to a couple of local weddings and met more Cypriots helped us see just how realistic, if somewhat exaggerated, the film is. Folk from the Mediterranean area really do seem to be very family-orientated, produce huge amounts of food, and invite hundreds of friends and acquaintances to weddings.

The plot is not as such a new one - Toula (Nia Vardalos) is a much-loved and over-protected young Greek woman, who is a bit frumpish and still single. Her father (Michael Constantine) longs for her to find and marry a nice Greek boy... but Toula has ambitions that reach far beyond waitressing in her father's restaurant for her whole life. So she takes some classes, and improves her appearance... and falls in love with an American teacher.

What we all enjoyed is that the movie pokes gentle fun at both Greek and American culture, caricaturing the foibles of each. The Greek humour is more obvious, perhaps, but we loved the scenes with the 'bundt'... which have to be watched to be understood. In addition to the humour, the film showed rather well what can happen when two such different world views come into contact.

There were some great one-liners, such as the explanation of how even the word ‘kimono’ supposedly comes from Greek. The acting is good, the accents very Cypriot, and the characters excellent. Very enjoyable.

Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews