Predictable.

There was no plot, the jokes weren’t funny, the characters were unlikeable, and I didn’t even learn anything about Greek culture (as I was hoping to) by watching this snoozefest. This movie was so dull, I had to keep myself entertained by looking for product placements. (I spotted a UPS truck, Miller Lite beer, and a lot of Windex.)

It’s almost always a good sign when a film intended for adults has a PG or G rating (it usually means the writers aren’t resorting to falling back on good old, reliable sex humor), but My Big Fat Greek Wedding was an exception. The audience I was with found the phrase “I have three testicles” absolutely hilarious; for a PG film, the profanity is excessive. And, as in all films, the couple has to have sex before they get married. The sex, at least, is implicit; the couple are first making out in a car (a scene that goes on way too long), they then make out in the boyfriend’s apartment (the girl literally jumps on him, which was supposed to funny), and then, of course, they end up in bed together. Finally, they get married. (These values are pretty typical for Hollywood, of course, but I couldn’t help but wonder what the kids sitting in front of me were learning by watching this.)

I might have been able to put up with all of this if the story was any good, but it wasn’t; it was just plain predictable. The main character, Toula, spots a good-looking guy at the beginning, they date throughout the course of the movie, and they marry at the end. The closest thing to a conflict is the father’s desire to have Toula marry another Greek, but this is barely touched on.

This movie simply wasn’t entertaining; and it wasn’t even educational. Come to think of it, the only thing I got out of it was a strange desire to buy Windex.

This movie has been constantly moving up in the boxoffice by word of mouth because it has hit on a great feel-good theme. I found it educational, wildly entertaining and one of the most funny movies this year.

tabuno,

I can understand you seeing it as funny and entertaining, but how, exactly, was it educational? The main thing I got out of it was that Greeks are family-oriented, and that's not even a fact-- just a generalization implicated by the film. What, specifically, did you learn?

I was afraid you'd asked me about educational. It's difficult to recall details but I guess some of what I can remember since most of the movie's impact came on an emotional, entertainment level was the notion of the authority of the father, the idea of marriage as a form of arrangement, love vs. duty and obligation, money, etc. There was the religious angle and wedding, customs. The emphasis on family, extended family was well expressed in this movie more than most that I've seen. There was the bi-racial marriage component and the feeling that even in contemporary America, the idea of Greek versus newer ethnic cultures in America, the tendency remained strong to adhere to a pure ethnic, racial identity.

I would have to watch movie again to really search out more details.

a really long sitcom.