My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a 2002 romantic comedy film written by and starring Nia Vardalos and directed by Joel Zwick. At the 75th Academy Awards, it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Plot
The movie is centered on Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos, a Greek-American woman (Nia Vardalos, who also wrote the script), who falls in love with a non-Greek protestant fellow, Ian Miller (played by John Corbett).
Toula is going through an early midlife crisis. At thirty, she is the only woman in her family who has "failed": her family expects her to "marry a Greek, have Greek babies and feed everyone until the day we die." Instead, Toula is stuck working in the family business, a restaurant. In contrast to her "perfect" sister, Athena (Stavroula Logothetis), Toula is frumpy and cynical. She fears she's doomed to be stuck with her life as it is.
At the restaurant, she encounters Ian Miller, a school teacher, an event which changes her outlook. She goes to school to learn computers, and eventually goes to work at her aunt's travel agency. She also begins to care more about her appearance.
Toula feels much better in her new job, especially when she notices Ian hanging around looking at her through the window. They finally introduce themselves and begin dating. Toula keeps the relationship secret from her family until some weeks later when Gus (her father) finds out. Gus throws a fit because Ian is not Greek. Ian asks permission to continue seeing Toula. Gus refuses, but Toula and Ian continue to see each other.
Ian proposes, Toula accepts, and Gus is ultimately forced to accept their relationship. Ian readily agrees to convert to the Greek Orthodox faith in order to be worthy of Toula, and is baptized in traditional fashion. At the family's Easter festival, Ian confesses he is a vegetarian — a brief crisis for the entire family ensues — and he has a lot of trouble pronouncing Greek words.
As the year passes, the wedding planning hits snag after snag as Toula's relatives "helpfully" interfere; her father insists on inviting the entire church to the ceremony, her mother orders the invitations but misspells Ian's parents' names, and Toula's cousin Nikki orders tacky bridesmaids' dresses. Toula is horrified to learn that her parents invited the entire family to what was meant to be a "quiet" dinner, and the Millers, unused to such cultural fervor, are overwhelmed.
The wedding day dawns with liveliness and hysteria, but the traditional wedding itself goes without a hitch. Everyone goes to the reception, and the Millers, fortified with many glasses of ouzo, begin to enjoy the Greek partying lifestyle. Gus gives a speech accepting Ian and the Millers as family.
Gus and Maria buy a gift for the young couple: a house right next door to them. The film's epilogue shows the Millers' life a few years later in which they have a daughter that they raise in the Greek style.
Cast
Location and release dates
The film was shot in Toronto and Chicago. Toronto's Ryerson University and Greektown neighborhood feature prominently in the film. Despite its writer being from Winnipeg, and the use of Toronto for location shots, the movie was set in Chicago. Walking tours of Greektown on Danforth Avenue point out scene locations. The home used to depict Gus and Maria Portokalos' residence (as well as the home bought next door at the end of the film for Toula and Ian) is located on Glenwood Crescent just off O'Connor Drive in East York. The real home representing the Portokalos' residence actually has most of the external ornamentation that was shown in the film. Also, some minor parts of the movie were shot in Jarvis High School in Toronto.
After a February 2002 premiere, it was initially released in the USA April 19, 2002. That summer it opened in Iceland, Israel, Greece, and Canada. The following fall and winter it opened in Turkey, UK, New Zealand, Argentina, Australia, Hong Kong, Brazil, Norway, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Taiwan, the Philippines, Egypt, Peru, Sweden, Mexico, Hungary, Germany, Austria, Switzerland (German speaking region), France, Poland, Kuwait, Estonia, and Lithuania. It was finally released in South Korea in March 2003, and Japan in July 2003.
Reception and performance
My Big Fat Greek Wedding became a sleeper hit and grew steadily from its limited release. Despite never hitting the #1 spot and being an independent film with a $5 million budget, it ultimately grossed over $368 million worldwide, becoming one of the top romantic films of the 21st Century according to Echo Bridge Entertainment.[1]
It was the fifth highest grossing movie of 2002 in the USA, with USD$241,438,208, and the highest-grossing romantic comedy in history.[2] It is also the highest-grossing film never having been number 1 on the weekly North American box-office charts.[3]
Martin Grove of Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson [...] found 'Wedding' when it was a one-woman Nia Vardalos play in L.A. and believed in it so much that they got it made as a movie".[4]
My Big Fat Greek Life
The movie inspired the brief 2003 TV series My Big Fat Greek Life, with most of the major characters played by the same actors, with the exception of Steven Eckholdt replacing John Corbett as the husband. Corbett had already signed on to the TV series Lucky. He was scheduled to appear as the best friend of his replacement's character, but the show was cancelled before he appeared. The show received poor reviews from critics noting the random character entrances and serious plot "adjustments" that didn't match the movie.
The 7 episodes from the series are available on DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, whose TV studio division produced the show.
Cultural references
Throughout the film, Kostas "Gus" Portokalos, played by Michael Constantine, continuously uses Windex, the popular window cleaner, as a remedy for everything.
The movie makes reference to Zorba the Greek (1964), The Lost Boys (1987), That Thing You Do! (1996), and Meet the Parents (2000), while spoofing Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967). Another independent Canadian feature, Mambo italiano (2003), referenced Wedding. Because of the surprise success of Wedding and its unusual title, its name was lampooned by several television series and movies:
References
External links
