"In the end, we're all fruit." - Gus

Deemed the most successful independent movie of all time, surpassing "The Blair Witch Project", this is basically a success story for Nia Vardalos who created a one woman show about her romance and marriage which was so liked by Rita Wilson, she convinced husband Tom Hanks to produce it and was inevitably made into a film. This wasn't just another one woman show because it sparked a true nature towards life and love.
     The character Toula is a frumpy thirty year old who, when she decides to re-do her image and take chances in life, falls in love with the mysterious and brooding Ian Miller (John Corbett)... and they manage to fall in love... fast... really fast. Nia Vardalos' family is quirky and truly an eccentric bunch. Her mother Maria (Lainie Kazan) specializes in giving her kids guilt trips and succeeds in most cases when it comes to Toula's single life. Gus (Michael Constantine), her father who is the traditional and proud Greek father is probably the most hilarious of the bunch. He uses Windex as a remedy for nearly every bodily affliction and has the ability to connect any word with a Greek origin to it (even Kimono). Toula's aunt Voula (Andrea Martin) is one of the heads of the family, watching over everyone's lives with a fine toothed comb, and cooks for everyone, also giving these horrendous stories. At one point, she tells Ian's inept parents about her tumor with such ease it's hilarious. It's hard to believe these people are real, and they could be, it's not hardly far-fetched. The family is big, really big and very tight knit; it's the true soul of the movie because we can feel the bond between all the relatives. The story is not the cookie cutter romance we see in all Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts movies because it's real and there's no plot devices to add to the story that we've seen before. Ian is truly in love with Toula and never doubts it; he even becomes a Greek Orthodox for her so her parents can accept her. It's touching and refreshing to see such a couple like that can exist. Nia Vardalos is charismatic and likable as the desperate and lonely Toula who feels pressure to get married by her parents and entire family. She's the underdog who comes through in the end and that's what helps this movie become likable.

What ultimately drags this movie down is the pacing of the story. My Big Fat Greek Wedding is sort of a mis-title for this film. You somehow get the sense this movie deals with and is told around the time of the marriage but the marriage doesn't come until the last half hour. Until then, we're treated with a story that, though charming, is hardly interesting. The movie is helped by the great performances by the cast and that pretty much ends it. Not all true stories are interesting, and this proves it. I never cared much for the story because it's all so fluffy and cute, we never get the sense that Nia Vardalos is telling the whole story of the marriage, except sets an unrealistic portrait of romance and love. The movie is fluff pure and simple and didn't sit well with me. There's barely any emphasis on the love between these two characters, only the involvement of their romance and the family that get intertwined with their lives. The romantic tale speeds through the hour and a half mark and every aspect of the storytelling feels rushed and sometimes tacked on leading up to something... but we're never sure what. In twenty minutes we learn that they fall in love, but do they ever give us a chance to absorb and feel for them? The marriage is ultimately very scarce and it would have been very amusing to see Toula preparing and watch some hilarious antics, but alas, we're barely given anything.

This is a very uneven, sometimes uninteresting and lacking movie, but still decent and charming nonetheless with its wide array of characters to laugh with.