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My Big Fat Greek Wedding

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My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJoel Zwick
Written byNia Vardalos
Produced byGary Goetzman
Tom Hanks
Rita Wilson
StarringNia Vardalos
John Corbett
Lainie Kazan
Michael Constantine
CinematographyJeffrey Jur
Edited byMia Goldman
Music byAlexander Janko
Chris Wilson
Production
companies
Distributed byIFC Films
Release dates
  • April 19, 2002 (2002-04-19) (United States)
  • August 16, 2002 (2002-08-16) (Canada)
Running time
95 minutes
CountriesCanada
United States
LanguagesEnglish
Greek
Budget$5 million
Box office$368,744,044[1]

My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a 2002 Canadian-American romantic comedy film written by and starring Nia Vardalos and directed by Joel Zwick. The film is centered on Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos, a middle class Greek American woman who falls in love with a non-Greek upper middle class "White Anglo-Saxon Protestant" Ian Miller. At the 75th Academy Awards, it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. A sleeper hit, the film became the highest-grossing romantic comedy of all time,[2] and grossed $241.4 million in North America, despite never reaching number one at the box office during its release (the highest-grossing film to accomplish this feat).

Plot

Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos (Nia Vardalos) 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 boy, make Greek babies, and feed everyone until the day she dies." Instead, Toula is stuck working in the family business in Chicago, a restaurant, "Dancing Zorba's." 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 briefly sees (and embarrasses herself in front of) Ian Miller, a handsome school teacher. This event, combined with an argument with her overly-patriotic father, Gus - who merely wants his daughter to marry and settle down rather than pursue a career - after being persuaded by his wife he permits Toula to begin taking computer classes at a local college. She also gets contact lenses, wears her hair curly, and begins to use make-up, which improves her mood and self-esteem . Maria, her mother, and her Aunt Voula (Andrea Martin) then contrive a way to get Gus to allow her to work at Voula's travel agency.

Toula feels much better in her new job, especially when she notices Ian 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 finds out. He throws a fit because Ian is not an ethnic Greek and orders Toula to end the relationship, but Ian and Toula continue to see each other against Gus's wishes. Ian proposes marriage to her, she accepts. Gus is hurt and infuriated, feeling his daughter has betrayed him, and Ian agrees to be baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church to be worthy of her family.

As the months pass, the wedding planning hits snag after snag as Toula's numerous relatives "helpfully" interfere. Her father insists on inviting the entire family, all of their friends and distant relatives, to the ceremony, her mother orders the invitations but misspells Ian's mother's name, and Toula's cousin Nikki (Gia Carides) 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 groom's demure and private parents, not used to such cultural fervor, are overwhelmed; which later prompts Gus to complain about them.

The wedding day dawns with liveliness and hysteria, but the traditional wedding itself goes without a hitch. Gus gives a speech accepting Ian and the Millers as family. An epilogue shows the new couple's life six years later in which they have a daughter, Paris, whom they raise in the Greek style, but Toula tells her she can marry anyone she wants when she grows up after she says she wants to go to Brownies.

Cast

Production

My Big Fat Greek Wedding started as a one-woman play written by and starring Vardalos, performed for six weeks at the Hudson Backstage Theatre in Los Angeles in the summer of 1997.[3] Vardalos later jokingly stated that she only wrote the play "to get a better agent."[4] The play was based on Vardalos's own family in Winnipeg in Canada, and on her experience marrying a non-Greek man (actor Ian Gomez).[4] The play was popular, and was sold out for much of its run, in part due to Vardalos's marketing it across Greek Orthodox churches in the area.[5] A number of Hollywood executives and celebrities saw it, including actress Rita Wilson, who is herself of Greek origin;[5] Wilson convinced her husband, actor Tom Hanks, to see it as well.

Vardalos began meeting various executives about making a film version of the play, and began writing a screenplay as well. However, the meetings proved fruitless because the executives insisted on making changes that they felt would make the film more marketable, which Vardalos objected to: these included changing the plot, getting a known actress in the lead role (Marisa Tomei was one name mentioned),[5] and changing the family's ethnicity to Hispanic.[4] Two months after the play's initial run ended, Hanks's production company, Playtone, contacted Vardalos about producing a film based on her vision for it; they also agreed to remount the play in early 1998, this time at LA's Globe Theatre.[3] Hanks later said that casting Vardalos in the lead role "brings a huge amount of integrity to the piece, because it's Nia's version of her own life and her own experience. I think that shows through on the screen and people recognize it."[4]

In 2000, while in Toronto doing pre-production for the film, Vardalos and Playtone producer Gary Goetzman overheard actor John Corbett (who was in town shooting the film Serendipity) at a bar, telling a friend of his about having read the script for My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and being upset that he couldn't make the auditions. Vardalos and Goetzman approached Corbett and offered him the part of Ian Miller on the spot, which he accepted.[4]

Location and release dates

Parts of the film were shot in Greektown, Toronto

Despite being based on life in the Greek community of Winnipeg, the film was set in Chicago, and shot in both Toronto and Chicago. Toronto's Ryerson University and Greektown neighborhood feature prominently in the film. 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 United States on April 19, 2002. That summer it opened in Iceland, Israel, Greece, and Canada. The following fall and winter it opened in Turkey, the United Kingdom, 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 number one spot and being an independent film with a $5 million budget, it ultimately grossed over $368.7 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 film of 2002 in the United States and Canada,[6] with USD$241,438,208, and the highest-grossing romantic comedy in history.[2] Domestically, it is also the highest-grossing film never having been number one on the weekly North American box office charts.[7] The film is among the most profitable of all time, with a 6150% return on an (inflation adjusted) cost of $6 million to produce.[8]

The movie received generally positive reviews. Based on 121 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an overall approval rating from critics of 76%, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's critical consensus was, "Though it sometimes feels like a television sitcom, My Big Fat Greek Wedding is good-hearted and lovable."[9] By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 62, based on 29 reviews, which is considered to be "Generally favorable reviews".[10]

Lawsuits

The cast (with the exception of Nia Vardalos, who had a separate deal), as well as Hanks's production company, Playtone, later sued the studio for their part of the profits, charging that Gold Circle Films was engaging in so-called "Hollywood accounting" practices.[11]

10th-anniversary edition

In 2012, a 10th anniversary edition of the movie was released. The edition includes a DVD version and a digital copy of the movie and features deleted scenes as well as a 30-minute retrospective with Vardalos and Corbett.

My Big Fat Greek Life

Main article: My Big Fat Greek Life

The film 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 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 did not match the film.

The 7 episodes from the series are available on DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, whose TV studio division produced the show.

References within the film

Throughout the entire film, Gus continually uses Windex, the popular window cleaner, as a remedy for everything.

The film makes references 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).

Cultural references to the film

Another independent Canadian feature, Mambo Italiano (2003), referenced Wedding. The film was also parodied in the 2006 film Date Movie.

The film's title has been used as a snowclone, being copied across various titles:

Sequel

In a 2009 interview for her movie My Life in Ruins, asked about a possible sequel for My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Vardalos stated that she had an idea for a sequel and had started writing it, hinting that, like Ruins, the film would be set in Greece.[12]

Asked about a sequel again in a November 2012 interview, she stated, "Well, actually, yes. And it's only now that I've really become open to the idea. Over the years, I've heard from everybody about what the sequel should be. People next to me at Starbucks would say, 'hey, let me tell you my idea' and I'd be like 'hey, I'm just trying to get a cup of coffee.' I never thought much about it. But then when John (Corbett) and I recently sat down to do that interview (for the 10th anniversary edition), we laughed so hard through the whole thing. It made me think that it's time. He said, "come on, write something, will you?" And I now think I will. We have such an easy chemistry together. And we have chemistry because we never 'did it.' That's the surefire way to kill chemistry in a scene. You have to make sure your actors don't 'do it' off-screen. If they don't 'do it,' then they'll have chemistry on camera."[13]

On May 27, 2014, various news and media outlets reported that a sequel is in the works. Nia Vardalos later confirmed this via Twitter, and she also has written a script for the film. [14]

References

  1. ^ a b "My Life in Ruins" (PDF). Echo Bridge Entertainment. Retrieved on May 12, 2008
  2. ^ a b "TV Review - My Big Fat Greek Life". Entertainment Weekly. 2003-04-07. Retrieved 2008-09-28. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ a b My Big Fat Greek Wedding Headed for L.A.'s Globe Jan. 15 -- and Film, Willard Manus, Playbill, January 15, 1998
  4. ^ a b c d e My Big Fat Greek Wedding: About the Production, Hollywood Jesus, 2002
  5. ^ a b c Nia Vardalos interview, Robin Rea, Screenmancer.com
  6. ^ Box Office Mojo
  7. ^ "Top Grossing Movies that never hit #1". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-07-26. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ Staff (September 15, 2010). "The 15 Most Profitable Movies of All Time". CNBC. Retrieved September 15, 2010. The rankings cited in this article have been disputed as some movies were not included.
  9. ^ "My Big Fat Greek Wedding Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 2010-05-08.
  10. ^ "My Big Fat Greek Wedding reviews at Metacritic.com". Metacritic. CBS. Retrieved 2010-05-08.
  11. ^ Tom Hanks sues over 'Greek Wedding' profit
  12. ^ Extratv.com
  13. ^ The Huffington Post
  14. ^ [1]
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