My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

Directed by Joel Zwick
Starring Nia Vardalos and John Corbett

So, I finally mustered up enough courage to watch “My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding” which for typing purposes, and the ease of my fingers, shale hence forth be referred to as MBFGW. I’ll also state now that I didn’t drink a beer with this one. Instead, I choose to enjoy a nice, piping hot plate of steamed chick and broccoli with the “sauce mixed in”… “sauce mixed in?”… “sauce mixed in”… “sauce mixed? In?”… “sauce mixed in!”… “sauce..mixed in!” And, I suggest if you are in the greater DC area you should stop by the China King Restaurant (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6) and try some of the steamed chicken and broccoli with the “sauce mixed in”…”sauce on side?”…”sauce mixed in”…”sauce mixed in?”...”sauce mixed in!”....”sauce mixed in!”

Now, back to the movie, or MBFGW. I had a heard a few things about movie over the past few years, mostly in passing. One, was that Tom Hanks produced it because his wife wanted him to produce it. Second, it made a gazillion dollars (I did some research on this after watching the movie and as of 2003 it had made approx. 250 million dollars, and on a 5 million dollar budget that is pretty impressive). I never got around to watching it because I was never forced to and why would I ever desire to watch some film about some big, fat, greek’s wedding, other than doing it for a blog about chick flicks. Sorry, BFGW.

The movie starts with Toula, a Greek-American woman, who at 30 has no prospects of being married. She is constantly reminded of this by her intrusive family who want her to find a “nice, Greek boy” and settle down. She looks rough and I was wondering if this would ever happen. I then remembered the title, MBFGW, and breathed a long sigh of relief. It’s called MBFGW so she has got to meet somebody right? And, she does. Very quickly in the film she goes and takes night classes at the college, cleans herself up, looks a million times better, and quickly meets John Corbett.

The courtship was the most rushed and unbelievable part of the movie. But, I suppose they wanted to get it out of the way as quickly as possible so we could get back to the quirkiness of the family. And, they were quirky. What’s quirkier that believing Windex cures all ailments? Huh? You tell me! What is quirkier than that?

There were some pretty funny moments in MBFGW. One scene that comes to mind, is when Toula’s Aunt learns that John Corbett is a vegetarian, something she doesn’t understand, and she says in shock, “What? He don’t eat meat?” ponders for a moment and then continues, “Well, do not worry, I make lamb!” And, everyone quickly goes back to dancing. I'm still laughing as I type this even though I feel like I have heard that meat joke before somewhere else.

Overall, the movie was pretty good and doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously. I would say it’s a fun movie. I liked it. I go eat some meat now.

FORCE THE BOYFRIEND: 6 1/2 out of 10 (1 means he'll hate it, 10 means he'll like it)

Watch if you liked movies about weddings and other similar chick stuff

Chick Flick: 4 cartons of ice cream (out of 5)

DVD: 2 pieces of milky chocolate (out of 5)- has some audio commentary I didn't listent to

Chinese Food: 5 manly high fives (out of 5)- with the "sauce mixed in"