Director: Joel Zwick 
Starring: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Lainie Kazan, Michael Constantine, Gia Carides, Louis Mandylor, Joey Fatone, Ian Gomez, Andrea Martin

- Reviewed by Linda

My Big Fat Greek Wedding is one of those cute little movies that sets you up from the start simply with the title. You know its aim is to be funny, romantic, have ethnic jokes, and culminate in a wedding. It really offers no surprises from the start, but takes you on a pleasant enough ride.

Toula (Nia Vardalos) is a thirty-ish dowdy and plain single woman who is miserable working in her family's Greek restaurant in Chicago. Her family is constantly harassing her about marrying a good Greek man before it is too late, even if it means shipping her back to the motherland to get herself a fella. But Toula sees herself as being trapped in the family cycle, unable to follow her own dreams of breaking free and getting her own life.

When handsome shaggy-professor-type Ian Miller (John Corbett) wanders into the restaurant with a friend, Toula is immediately smitten. In her eavesdropping on the conversation, she is suddenly inspired to take classes at the local college to turn her life around.

Flash-forward a few months, and Toula has been rather abruptly transformed into an attractive woman (i.e. contact lenses, permed hair, fashionable nice clothes, makeup, and improved social skills). She runs into Ian again, and to her great and comic delight, the sparks fly. But the problem is, Ian ain't Greek. In fact he is very much not, coming from a very small suburban Anglo family which is the complete opposite of Toula's boisterous extended clan. Will Toula's family accept Ian? Do you really think they won't? (Read the title of the film again.)

My Big Fat Greek Wedding made me laugh out loud several times. Nia Varadalos and John Corbett make attractive and pleasant leads, and both have charm and charisma. Though the film doesn't go into much emotional depth (beyond the basic surface level hysteria of the family), it is enjoyable (if sometimes slow), and will make you chuckle. Much of the humor probably hits closer to home for Greek-Americans, but the basic theme of dominating families is cross-cultural, making Greek Wedding an enjoyable enough diversion for everyone.

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