DIRECTOR:
Jon Favreau LEAD CAST: Bill
Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, Scarlett Johansson,
Giarncarlo Esposito, Christopher
Walken, Neel Sethi PRODUCERS: Jon Favreau, Brigham Taylor SCREENWRITER: Justin Marks EDITOR: Mark Livolsi CINEMATOGRAPHER:
Bill Pope MUSIC: John Debney GENRE: Fantasy Adventure BASED ON: Disney’s The Jungle Book by
Rudyard Kipling PRODUCTION
COMPANY: Walt Disney Pictures, Fairview Entertainment DISTRIBUTOR: Walt
Disney Studios, Motion Pictures LOCATION:
United States RUNNING TIME: 105 minutes
Technical
assessment: 4
Moral
assessment: 3.5
CINEMA
rating: VA (Viewers of All Ages)
Toula
Portokalos-Miller (Nia Vardalos) and husband Ian (John Corbett) are now often
at odds with their 18-year-old daughter Paris (Elena Kampouris) who disagrees
with Greek traditions and can’t accept her clan’s behavior. Toula has also to contend with the
expectations of close relatives and the aging parents—something that pulls her
away much of the time from her husband.
Crisis arises when the family discovers that Toula’s parents Kostas
(Michael Constantine) and Maria (Lainie Kazan), husband and wife for 50 years,
are not yet officially married in Church.
Now Maria wants Kostas to seriously propose marriage to her. Kostas adamantly refuses but at a
crucial point gives in and pops the question. The wedding planner hired for the occasion quits from the
pressure imposed by the loud and huge family. How will the big fat Greek wedding then come to pass?
A
sequel to My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) this can stand on its
own, although some parts may not make sense to those who have not seen MBFGW #1.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 may have
its technical loopholes—some jokes fall flat, sometimes characters project like
amateur actors, editing is sometimes lumpy, etc.—but with a story that everyone
one with a family can relate to, technical imperfection is forgiveable. If the plot is the spine, the
development of the characters is the flesh and blood around it, animating the
movie and putting on the big screen people that viewers can care about. Credit goes to Vardalos’ script,
delivered from the heart by the ensemble.
It will be remembered that Vardalos, its star and screenwriter, earned
an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay with My Big Fat Greek Wedding in 2002.
Critics have been harsh on My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2.
The consensus on Rotten Tomatoes says it is “as sweet and harmless as the original, but its
collection of sitcom gags and stereotypes never coalesces into anything
resembling a story with a purpose.”
We have yet to see how MBFGW #2 eventually compares at the box office
with MBFGW #1, but it’s clear that critics and audiences do not see eye to eye
here. The original had a budget of
$5 million and ultimately grossed $368.7 million worldwide, making it the
highest-grossing rom-com in history despite its never becoming number one in
box office charts. It seems film
critics who bash the movie miss the “purpose” in Vardalos’ story. Dipped in cream and rolled in sugar and
spice is its dough—solidly but subtly promoting the values of love, marriage,
family. The movie throbs with love
and acceptance—perhaps that’s what viewers really want to see in a world that’s
bent on destroying itself with selfish isms and ideologies. Read the viewers’ comments and
reactions to reviews and understand why audiences even clap their hands at the
end of the movie.
