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Movie:
My Big Fat Greek Wedding By: Roxbusters (Lawrencerock.com Contributor) |
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Dir.: Joel Zwick Hilarious adj. Extremely
funny… Comes from the Greek word hilas, meaning story with an infectious
charisma, as told by a second generation Greek American with a genuine
love for laughter. (Ok, not really. But, Gus Portokalos would agree
with me). In My Big Fat
Greek Wedding (based on an autobiographical play by Nia Vardalos,
who also stars in the film), Maria Portokalos (Lainie Kazan) explains
to her daughter Toula (Vardalos): "If the man is the head of the
family, the woman is the neck. She has the power to turn his head this
way or that." In other words, a man is a puppet and his wife is
its master. Same goes for the film version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding
and its puppet master, Ms. Vardalos. It’s a story that had already
sprung its head long before Vardalos first sat down and brought pen
to paper… or finger to key. The film is based on her experiences
growing up in a 1st generation Greek American family and its struggle
to remain a cohesive clump of feta cheese amongst a salad of plain watercress
with fat free dressing. All Vardalos had to do was take a leap and give
her already established story some wacky direction. So, she grabbed
her puppet’s strings and created a performance piece that is completely
her own; one which she manipulates to a satisfying end. The film’s
plot is pretty basic: Toula Portokalos, who comes from a traditional
Greek family, falls in love with the Wonder Bread of white breads, Ian
Miller (played by Northern Exposure alum John Corbett), and struggles
to get her family to accept him as her chosen husband. Let’s just
say, it’s not all honey and filo dough for Toula. After all, she’s
supposed to marry a Greek and become a Greek baby-making machine. College?
God forbid! Everyone knows what happens when you educate a woman. Yet,
Toula feels she’s different and therefore directs her life against
the grain of very time honored, even sacred cultural traditions. What we have, therefore,
is a story of east versus west, a culture clash that makes for some
highly amusing incidents of disparity. Case in point, Ian brings his
cotton, button down parents to the Portokalos residence for a "small,
family get together". Here is where the problem begins: the Portokalos
definition of "small" and "family" (and just about
every other word in the english language) does not translate BIG enough
for their Greek sensibilities. The Millers realize this as they pull
up to a mid-size suburban home, embellished with plaster columns and
semi-nude statues, resembling the Parthanon, and swarming with nameless
Greek individuals surrounding a mysterious animal carcass on a spit.
After her initial shock, Mrs. Miller hands Maria Portokalos a traditional
American bunt cake, which Maria hesitantly accepts. Shortly afterwards,
Maria turns to a nearby friend and states, "There’s a hole
in this cake!" Thus, the difference between a widely practiced
European belief that "excess equals success" and the even
larger influence of Anglo Saxon moderation, is evinced: one culture
believes that more is more, the other, that less is more. There is nary
an immigrant family in the United States, be they 1st generation or
5th, that can’t identify with the situations in this movie. Ultimately,
the success of the film hinges completely on the charm of these interactions.
This is where Vardalos shines as a story teller and the plot serves
solely as a vehicle for these episodes. By the close of
the film, Mrs. Miller’s bunt cake hole is filled by a potted plant,
Ian has been baptized in a plastic paddling pool…everything’s
right with this salad bowl world. Gus Portokalos (Michael Constantine)
finally accepts Toula’s choice of husband and at the wedding states
in his toast, "Portokalos comes from the Greek word for orange.
Miller comes from the word for apple. So, we’re apples and oranges.
But, when it comes down to it, we’re all fruit." Vardalos
has brought us to this point, through a series of joyous mishaps and
we, as viewers, may not be enlightened by it, but we certainly will
have had a good time. -Roxbusters, 7/19/02 On a four horn scale,
My Big Fat Greek Wedding receives 3 horns. Copyright 2002, Roxbusters.com
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