Wed. June 22, 2016
By Gregg Shapiro
Poor Nia Vardalos. With the exception of Connie and Carla, her post My Big Fat Greek Wedding output has been, well, skata. Sadly, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (Universal) is no exception.
A Greek tragedy in the making, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 wisely incorporates plenty of references to the first movie (Windex, tracing the root of any word to Greek, the extended family including Aunt Voula, etc.) as a reminder. Toula (Vardalos), happily married to xenos Ian (John Corbett) and the mother of sullen teenager Paris (Elena Kampouris) has returned to her frumpy ways. High school principle Ian is cool and Toula isn't, making both parents sources of embarrassment for Paris.
Due to her strained relationship with Paris, Toula babies her parents, especially father Gus (Michael Constantine, who nibbles at the scenery as if they were stuffed grape leaves), because she can't "parent her baby" anymore. After teaching Gus to use the computer so he can research his ancestry online (to confirm he is a descendant of Alexander The Great), it's revealed that the 1963 marriage license for Gus and Maria's (Lainie Kazan) wedding was unsigned by a priest. This leads to on again/off again plans for a big fat Greek wedding for the elderly couple.
Toula's full plate also includes resuscitating her marriage, planning her parents second wedding, dealing with Paris' impending plans for prom and college, as well as trying to avoid the advice of over-sharing Thea Voula (scene-stealer Andrea Martin), without any tzatziki in sight. If Vardalos was smart, she would write a screenplay that focuses solely on Voula, the most delightful character in the series. This is never truer than when she deals with son Angelo's (Joey Fatone) coming out as gay. Sweet as baklava.
Director Kirk Jones has been on the decline since Waking Ned Devine and this stale piece of wedding cake doesn't help. Blu-ray+DVD+Digital HD bonus features include a gag reel and two featurettes.
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