bnorthup
01-14-2003, 12:34 PM
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
At the Myrna Loy
*** (three stars)
Big Fat Movie Success at the Myrna Loy
By Brent Northup
I’m probably the last person in town – or in America for that matter - to see “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” Last Sunday, I went to the Myrna Loy expecting to join six or seven local folk for a night at the movies. Imagine my surprise when I discovered a “sold out” sign on the door. But extra folding metal chairs had been placed in back and down both aisles – and I got one of two empty folding chairs.
Turns out I probably shouldn’t have gotten a seat at all. The two empty chairs were empty only by accident.
“The line formed for the 7 o’clock show at 4:20,” said Ed Noonan, director of the Myrna Loy. “And it was officially sold out by 5 p.m. It’s been that way every time we show it.”
This success reflects the film’s national success. “Greek Wedding” which cost only $5 million to make looks like it will end up grossing more than $200 million at the box office.
The film has led to Big Fat Movie Success for the Myrna Loy. Both the summer quarter and the winter quarter broke the all-time Myrna Loy movie records for attendance – and “Wedding” was a big part of both of those periods.
Les Benedict, film programmer at the Myrna Loy, says the success of “Greek Wedding” in its current run caught the theater by surprise.
“Usually ‘bring back’ movies like this make about half as much as they did in their first run,” said Benedict. “But this time it almost sold out the 166 seats in the big auditorium, and is selling out all the time in the small auditorium.”
The film leaves town on Sunday, with eight total showings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Since it’s in the small auditorium (“Gangs of New York” is in the big room), there will be only 55 seats per showing.
Enough about the success of the movie, let’s talk about the movie itself.
The story is a Cinderella tale of a 30-year-old Greek woman who works at the family restaurant, but who has no boyfriends – and no prospect for marriage. Her very Greek dad (Michael Constantine) just shakes his head and proclaims “You better get married soon. You startin’ to look old.”
But Toula is caught in a trap. She would like to find the man of her dreams, sure, but she’s not anxious to live out the Greek formula for wives which she describes this way: “Nice Greek girls are supposed to do three things in life -- marry Greek boys, make Greek babies and feed everyone until the day we die."
To Toula’s delight she falls in love with a man who wants more than babies and meals. But, to her dad’s deep despair, Ian-the-chosen-one is NOT Greek.
But Ian is ever so willing to accommodate his new in-laws. He is baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church, for example. He agrees to a Greek wedding. He tries to learn Greek phrases, a gesture that the relatives turn into great fun by tricking him into using dirty words in public.
In the end, of course, we have a big fat Greek wedding and an even fatter reception. Ian has learned to love his new Greek family, and the Greek dad has somehow manages to embrace his new son.
The film was written by Nia Vardalos, 39, a very Greek comedienne from Winnipeg who adapted her one-woman show into a screenplay. Thanks to funding from Tom Hanks, the film got produced and distributed. Now, some $200 million later, it’s become a sensation throughout the country. Next stop: a CBS sitcom tentatively titled “My Big Fat Greek Life.”
Although I worry about the sitcom-izing of this charming movie, it’s easy for me to see why the movie itself is the nationwide surprise hit of the year. And it’s easy to see why families are buying eight tickets at a time so the whole clan can see it together before it leaves Helena.
I will offer five reasons why it deserves the fame it’s achieved.
1. It’s an authentic look at the details of Greek life. Many critics have commented on the tiny details that the movie gets right. The guests at the wedding, for example, pretend to spit on the couple as they walk down the aisle, a gesture designed to chase away bad fortune later in life. Countless other throwaway moments are exactly on target for the Greek experience. A Greek woman has given us an affectionate, precise view of what it means to grow up Greek.
2. It’s an affectionate, but not romanticized, view of family life. “Greek Wedding” believes in family and marriage. In the age of skyrocketing divorce rates and of well-publicized adulteries by public figures, it’s oh-so-reassuring to see family life portrayed in positive terms. “Greek Wedding” pokes gentle fun at families, while still embracing marriage. The Greek dad, for example, is a blustering, controlling head of the household, but is loved even by the women he orders around. “The man is the head [of the household], but the woman is the neck. And she can turn the head anywhere she wants," explains mom to her daughter. While acknowledging that all families are dysfunctional, the script also deeply believes in family.
3. The stars deliver humble, “un-starlike” performances. In an age of big stars with bigger egos, it’s so refreshing to go to a movie where the stars don’t act like stars. Vardalos is utterly convincing as a woman without self-esteem who is dumbfounded to find love. Vardalos herself is married to a non-Greek named Ian who, just like in the movie, was willing to be baptized to join her family. The story is not all auto-biographical, but it has many elements that reflect her actual life story – and we sense that. The cast is crazy and unpredictable, but no one steals the stage – members of this ensemble obviously loved the movie more than they loved their careers. No surprise – they worked for next to nothing!
4. The movie is genuinely funny, as it makes us laugh at ourselves. Although the tale is a Greek one, it might just have been any ethnic tale from any land. What matters is that a family manages to find love even though it continually embarrasses itself with its foibles and idiosyncrasies. When we laugh at their slips and slides, we are laughing at ourselves, slipping and sliding through life.
5. Finally, the movie teaches us that we can be different and still get along. What a needed refrain in this time of increasing intolerance. The union of this Greek family with a non-Greek outsider, which ends with the most joyous wedding imaginable, stands as a symbol of peace and hope for us all in a time when optimism is in short supply.
For all these reasons, I’m glad to add my name to those who loved “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” It is likely to receive a few Oscar nominations, because Hollywood oh-so-much wants to embrace its success. My guess is that Vardalos will gather two nominations for screenplay and for Best Actress. And Michael Constantine may win a nod for Best Supporting Actor. I doubt that the film can muster a Best Picture nomination, but even that would not surprise me – this year at the Oscars could be the year of the Big Fat Surprises.
***
For those wanting to read a charming interview with Nia Vardalos about her movie, type “my big fat greek success” into the google.com search engine and open the article by that name from Australia’s Sun-Herald website, smh.com.au.
END
At the Myrna Loy
*** (three stars)
Big Fat Movie Success at the Myrna Loy
By Brent Northup
I’m probably the last person in town – or in America for that matter - to see “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” Last Sunday, I went to the Myrna Loy expecting to join six or seven local folk for a night at the movies. Imagine my surprise when I discovered a “sold out” sign on the door. But extra folding metal chairs had been placed in back and down both aisles – and I got one of two empty folding chairs.
Turns out I probably shouldn’t have gotten a seat at all. The two empty chairs were empty only by accident.
“The line formed for the 7 o’clock show at 4:20,” said Ed Noonan, director of the Myrna Loy. “And it was officially sold out by 5 p.m. It’s been that way every time we show it.”
This success reflects the film’s national success. “Greek Wedding” which cost only $5 million to make looks like it will end up grossing more than $200 million at the box office.
The film has led to Big Fat Movie Success for the Myrna Loy. Both the summer quarter and the winter quarter broke the all-time Myrna Loy movie records for attendance – and “Wedding” was a big part of both of those periods.
Les Benedict, film programmer at the Myrna Loy, says the success of “Greek Wedding” in its current run caught the theater by surprise.
“Usually ‘bring back’ movies like this make about half as much as they did in their first run,” said Benedict. “But this time it almost sold out the 166 seats in the big auditorium, and is selling out all the time in the small auditorium.”
The film leaves town on Sunday, with eight total showings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Since it’s in the small auditorium (“Gangs of New York” is in the big room), there will be only 55 seats per showing.
Enough about the success of the movie, let’s talk about the movie itself.
The story is a Cinderella tale of a 30-year-old Greek woman who works at the family restaurant, but who has no boyfriends – and no prospect for marriage. Her very Greek dad (Michael Constantine) just shakes his head and proclaims “You better get married soon. You startin’ to look old.”
But Toula is caught in a trap. She would like to find the man of her dreams, sure, but she’s not anxious to live out the Greek formula for wives which she describes this way: “Nice Greek girls are supposed to do three things in life -- marry Greek boys, make Greek babies and feed everyone until the day we die."
To Toula’s delight she falls in love with a man who wants more than babies and meals. But, to her dad’s deep despair, Ian-the-chosen-one is NOT Greek.
But Ian is ever so willing to accommodate his new in-laws. He is baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church, for example. He agrees to a Greek wedding. He tries to learn Greek phrases, a gesture that the relatives turn into great fun by tricking him into using dirty words in public.
In the end, of course, we have a big fat Greek wedding and an even fatter reception. Ian has learned to love his new Greek family, and the Greek dad has somehow manages to embrace his new son.
The film was written by Nia Vardalos, 39, a very Greek comedienne from Winnipeg who adapted her one-woman show into a screenplay. Thanks to funding from Tom Hanks, the film got produced and distributed. Now, some $200 million later, it’s become a sensation throughout the country. Next stop: a CBS sitcom tentatively titled “My Big Fat Greek Life.”
Although I worry about the sitcom-izing of this charming movie, it’s easy for me to see why the movie itself is the nationwide surprise hit of the year. And it’s easy to see why families are buying eight tickets at a time so the whole clan can see it together before it leaves Helena.
I will offer five reasons why it deserves the fame it’s achieved.
1. It’s an authentic look at the details of Greek life. Many critics have commented on the tiny details that the movie gets right. The guests at the wedding, for example, pretend to spit on the couple as they walk down the aisle, a gesture designed to chase away bad fortune later in life. Countless other throwaway moments are exactly on target for the Greek experience. A Greek woman has given us an affectionate, precise view of what it means to grow up Greek.
2. It’s an affectionate, but not romanticized, view of family life. “Greek Wedding” believes in family and marriage. In the age of skyrocketing divorce rates and of well-publicized adulteries by public figures, it’s oh-so-reassuring to see family life portrayed in positive terms. “Greek Wedding” pokes gentle fun at families, while still embracing marriage. The Greek dad, for example, is a blustering, controlling head of the household, but is loved even by the women he orders around. “The man is the head [of the household], but the woman is the neck. And she can turn the head anywhere she wants," explains mom to her daughter. While acknowledging that all families are dysfunctional, the script also deeply believes in family.
3. The stars deliver humble, “un-starlike” performances. In an age of big stars with bigger egos, it’s so refreshing to go to a movie where the stars don’t act like stars. Vardalos is utterly convincing as a woman without self-esteem who is dumbfounded to find love. Vardalos herself is married to a non-Greek named Ian who, just like in the movie, was willing to be baptized to join her family. The story is not all auto-biographical, but it has many elements that reflect her actual life story – and we sense that. The cast is crazy and unpredictable, but no one steals the stage – members of this ensemble obviously loved the movie more than they loved their careers. No surprise – they worked for next to nothing!
4. The movie is genuinely funny, as it makes us laugh at ourselves. Although the tale is a Greek one, it might just have been any ethnic tale from any land. What matters is that a family manages to find love even though it continually embarrasses itself with its foibles and idiosyncrasies. When we laugh at their slips and slides, we are laughing at ourselves, slipping and sliding through life.
5. Finally, the movie teaches us that we can be different and still get along. What a needed refrain in this time of increasing intolerance. The union of this Greek family with a non-Greek outsider, which ends with the most joyous wedding imaginable, stands as a symbol of peace and hope for us all in a time when optimism is in short supply.
For all these reasons, I’m glad to add my name to those who loved “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” It is likely to receive a few Oscar nominations, because Hollywood oh-so-much wants to embrace its success. My guess is that Vardalos will gather two nominations for screenplay and for Best Actress. And Michael Constantine may win a nod for Best Supporting Actor. I doubt that the film can muster a Best Picture nomination, but even that would not surprise me – this year at the Oscars could be the year of the Big Fat Surprises.
***
For those wanting to read a charming interview with Nia Vardalos about her movie, type “my big fat greek success” into the google.com search engine and open the article by that name from Australia’s Sun-Herald website, smh.com.au.
END