Bigger, fatter, stronger – no. After waiting for so long (15 years), Greece isn’t the word anymore for the sitcom-y flick on display with another round of Wedding bell blues. It’s crazy to think Nia Vardalos, creator and star of this sequel and its forebear, begged CBS to axe My Big Fat Greek Life, the 2003 small screen continuation of her hit big screen comedy. Granted, TV executives and the production team fought over the series’ direction all season until they turned a sure-fire smash into a 7-episode burnout.
But, back to the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding – a pleasant surprise lucky enough to sustain one movie but certainly not two let alone a sitcom – charmed it’s way into people’s hearts because it actually IS a big-screen sitcom. The jokes lack a laugh-track but the characters and situations smack of canned laughter. Just like with Zoolander 2 a few months ago, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 arrives late to a party it really wasn’t invited to.
In this PG-13-rated comedy, a Portokalos family secret brings the beloved characters back together for an even bigger and Greeker wedding. To provide some deeper insight into who these people are (or more accurately who they once were and how they’ve become the characters we see today) Vardalos undoes the basis of the entire family: she discredits her mother and father’s marriage by revealing it was never properly acknowledged by the church. For Gus (Michael Constantine) and Maria (Lainie Kazan) this more or less makes the lives they’ve been living for the past fifty years something of a sin and a sham. Of course, Gus wants to correct things as quick as possible and have his marriage acknowledged by the church, but with this new found information Maria is eager to soak up her new found freedom and make her “husband” earn her love for him, elaborate proposal and all. Couple this with Toula (Vardalos) and Ian (John Corbett) dealing with the impending high school graduation of their only daughter, Paris (Elena Kampouris), and there’s more than enough material for Vardalos to mine obvious comedy out of without actually mining the characters for any real insight or genuine arc.
Over-the-top, on-the-nose, and made-for-TV, the overall production makes nice, as in it earns praise meant for a child handing you a drawing: “that’s nice, honey.” Harmless fun, these continued goings-on examine over-familiar comedy themes and situations recycled from countless shows and movies, but all involved – Vardalos especially – works hard for your approval. Unwanted? Yes. Unnecessary? Well, mostly. If My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 rears its unneeded head, however, all courtesy will go the way of Pompeii.