Review of My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Introduction

The Blair Witch Project was the most successful independent film of all time until a writer/actor by the name of Nia Vardalos came along with her experience of Greek life and changed all that.

Entitled My Big Fat Greek Wedding, it is the story of Toula Portokalos - a 30 year-old Greek woman - who works in her family`s restaurant, Dancing Zorbas, in Chicago. All her father Gus wants is for her to get married to a nice Greek boy...but Toula is looking for more in life. Her mother convinces Gus to let her take some computer classes at college (making him think it`s his idea). With those classes under her belt, she then takes over her aunt`s travel agency (again making her father think it`s his idea). She meets Ian Miller, a high school English teacher, and they soon begin to date secretly for a while before her family finds out. Her father is livid over her dating a non-Greek. He has to learn to accept Ian; Ian has to learn to accept Toula`s huge family, and Toula has to learn to accept herself.

It soon broke all box office records and has recently spawned a TV series spin-off, My Big Fat Greek Life. But is it deserving of such ackolade?

Video

1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen. The visuals are deep and well defined, with the colours vibrant but not appearing washed, and the modern print it crisp and clear. Transfer-wise, there are no artefacts present - such as dust or grain - so overall this is an accomplished picture: nothing here will hamper your viewing experience.

Directed by Joel Zwick, the emphasis is on `lightweight` shots - so by this I mean there is no technical wizardry à la Fincher. Simple and effective, he points the camera where it is needed, but still makes everything appear to be professional considering this doesn`t need hi-tech camera angles and revolutionary shots.

Audio

Dolby Digital 5.1 (English). The film is dialogue-driven, so the need for surround definiton isn`t as needed as say something in the action genre, but ambience is always important, so it is a bit of a disappointment to hear that the soundtrack on My Big Fat Greek Wedding is flat for most of the time, with only the front channels being used. The rear channels are used once in a while - for music - but not half as much as a normal 5.1 mix. The main audio stream is crisp and clear, but it is a slight disappointment when reviewing the soundstage.

Vardalos wrote the script based on her own experiences as part of a large and eccentric Greek family, and therefore the events are even more quirky considering they are true! With set-pieces, visual gags and the odd one-liner; the script promises a lot, but fails in one key area: the narrative. From the title, the viewer is clear that the two protaganists will marry, so the fact that the engagement takes a long time to come considering the 96 minute running time is an immediate downer. Plus, the whole thing is rather predictable, and the jokes not particularly amusing.

Features

The extras begin with two features that accompany the film: an audio commentary with director Joel Zwick, Nia Vardalos and John Corbett - which is insightful and amusing due to their constant banter and anecdotes; and there is a "Greek School" trivia track which is a more mundane affair: messages pop up on screen when an element integral to Greek life appears on screen...original yet a bit boring.

There are a selection of interviews with the cast and crew - actually make that soundbites. Best described as an `interview gallery`, each person has a series of about 5 questions posed to them, which they give very short answers to. Slightly interesting, but the back-slapping nature of the answers and the smallness of the whole feature means that this is a wasted opportunity for some genuine information.

Cast and crew biographies are attached to the soundbites section, so you can hear them and then read more in-depth information about them. Quite good for those who want to know more about the cast and crew.

A set of production notes and a trailer round off the package - both are the standard affair, with the latter emphasising the success the film enjoyed at the box office.

The menus are animated well, with music in the background (a typical Greek score), and then wedding-style animations on the screen. They are easy to navigate.

Conclusion

Acclaimed by many critics for its quirky humour and satire on Greek life, My Big Fat Greek Wedding actually turned out to be a disappointment for me.

The humour is very basic - no doubt reflected in its PG rating - so although there are a few good chuckles, there are no real laugh-out-loud moments, or memorable lines. Yes, at first the sight of an army of Greeks bickering may be slightly amusing, but therein lies another fault of the film.

Vardalos has tried to cram every element of Greek life ever into the script (save for the sight of a large wooden horse), and in doing so it feels too packed and the characters too undeveloped due to the sheer number of them.

It is enjoyable on the surface, and certainly easy to watch, but below the surface lies a film with more flaws than some others have seen. If this was a rough cut, then yes, there is some promise here, and with the right number of tweaks, this could have been something special. However, it is a superficial poke at Greek life, and really, is predictable, and on repeat viewings, fairly boring.

The disc itself is average to fairly good - the visuals are fine, but the audio is slightly lacking, and so are the extras. The commentary is good, but the absence of a making-of documentary and the sparse nature of the interviews mean this can`t score highly. Some deleted scenes would have also been good to flesh out the characters.

Worth a rent I suppose, but don`t expect to like this sufficiently to buy it. Fun to watch once, but then it turns into an exercise in disappointment and what-if`s...and the same can be said of the DVD. Good on the surface, and the perfect rental disc as there is little to get through, but for the owner there is little to get through. A shame.