A big fat Greek smash hit.

• Author: Gehring, Wes D.
• Position: Reel World - My Big Fat Greek Wedding - Movie Review

"MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING," Nia Vardalos' autobiographical tale of a crazy Greek-American family getting crazier when she falls in love with a non-Greek, easily qualifies as the "feel good" movie of 2002. While shot on a modest budget of $5,000,000, the film's domestic box office gross has gone past an astounding $200,000,000! Whereas other pictures are credited with having commercial "legs" if their box office numbers do not drop off more than 30% in the weeks succeeding general release, "Greek Wedding" actually had its biggest grosses during its 22nd week in release. Fittingly, this people-pleasing phenomenon was fueled by strong word of mouth.

With equal appropriateness, the story's ethnic Cinderella nature is rivaled by the actual American fairy tale origins of the property. Actress and sometime producer Rita Wilson, whose family background is also Greek, saw Vardalos' one-woman comedy show in a nightclub and was immediately smitten with her Greek "life and hard times" to borrow a phrase from James Thurber. Anticipating the missionary-like zeal of future fans of the movie, Wilson returned a second night with husband Tom Hanks. He turned out to be equally impressed, and the couple approached Vardalos about her preparing a script, to be produced by their production company. Vardalos, nothing if not prepared, already had a screenplay in hand.

The resulting film, like many other instant screen classics, works on several interrelated genre levels. First, Vardalos' character (Toula) begins as the proverbial ugly duckling, underappreciated by a large extended family who see her as an aging (she's 30), unmarried failure. Her self-directed makeover into an attractive, politely assertive young travel agent scores points as a modest, but very entertaining, ethnic American take on "My Fair Lady."

Second, the film is a multifaceted look at romantic comedy, from the slapstick love story of a young couple (Vardalos and television's John Corbett), to those chaotically humorous first scenes between the young man and Toula's off-the-wall family. These latter segments, so comically central to the film, also play upon a common fear during any courtship: "I'm from the mother of all dysfunctional families." For instance, while no one in my Irish family used Windex glass cleaner as a magic elixir (as does Toula's father, played by Michael Constantine), my grandfather enjoyed "welcoming" any date I brought to dinner with a little margarine to the...