My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (Blu-ray) – Movie Review
We already mentioned it in our review of My Big Fat Greek Wedding (the original) a few months ago, but now My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 has also recently hit the stores. High time for us to give you our thoughts, now that the first one is still fresh in our memory. We were definitely curious to see whether, after all those years, the sequel would be able to stand on its own.
Once again, we meet Toula (Nia Vardalos) and Ian (John Corbett), this time more than fifteen years later. The two now have a daughter called Paris (Elena Kampouris), who attends the high school Ian is now principal of. Paris is not very happy with her family because they simply meddle with everything, just like they did with her mother in part one. Now she’s almost eighteen, they find it’s high time for her to have a boyfriend: a Greek boyfriend, that is, and thus they try to hook her up more than once. She is so tired of it all that she applies to colleges all over the country, to be as far away from her family as possible.
At the same time, her grandfather Gus (Michael Constantine) becomes convinced that he is a descendant of Alexander the Great and because nobody really pays attention to it, he is determined to prove his right. He starts looking things up online as well as going through old documents, when suddenly he notices that the priest who married him and his wife Maria (Lainie Kazan) fifty years ago never signed the marriage certificate. This means that they have been living in sin for the past fifty years, thus it’s a mistake that must be corrected. His wife isn’t too bothered with it though, but she agrees to marry him again, yet only if he proposes once more. Stubborn as he is, Gus refuses, since he already did that fifty years ago – so why do it again? – and thus the whole family needs to come to the rescue, in order to restore the marriage of Gus and Maria.
The storyline of this movie is actually quite original. One would expect the movie to be about Toula and Ian’s daughter, but while her story is still quite present (and predictable), it’s actually Toula’s parents who take the lead this time. The idea of Gus and Maria not being married after all might be original, yet the overall flow is on the slower side because there is not much character introduction, which might not have been needed, yet wouldn’t have been a bad idea. It’s fun to see the same family members from the first film meddle once again, but because the flow is rather slow and the gags aren’t quite what we were used to in part one, we can’t help but feel a bit disappointed.
The acting performances are still quite solid, and it’s fun to see how after all those years the actors did so well fitting into their character once again. It’s as if they have never been away. The only real newcomer in this movie is Elena Kampouris, who does good playing the typical teenager, yet we feel like she has a lot more in her. We’ll have to see about that of course, but only time can tell.
One thing that was really disappointing is the fact that there are no extras at all on this release. With the movie being a sequel of a film that was brought out so long ago, we felt like there were ample subjects to choose from, such as how the film came to be, why it took so long etc. It’s a missed opportunity and definitely something many fans will be looking for. Other than that, some bloopers or a gag real would have spiced things up a bit as well, as it is a comedy after all.
Conclusion
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is definitely a fun film to watch, yet you can definitely feel that it’s a sequel. The story is quite original, but the flow is not that fast and the humor just feels a bit off. Nonetheless, acting is really good and enjoyable. Overall, you’ll definitely have a fun evening when watching this film, just don’t expect the same level as the first one.
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