My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 invites you to join the Big Fat Greek Family

It is not a given that successful films will be followed by sequels. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3It’s still a pleasant surprise. The story that began with 2002’s My Big Fat Greek WeddingThe story of young Greek American Toula (Nia) Vardalos, her Then, you can also find out more about Greek family, and the hijinks that ensue when she gets involved with a non-Greek man (John Corbett) did not scream “franchise.” And yet it became one, not by repeating the success of the first movie — which still eludes the series — but by centering on a family just quirky enough to feel real, with a light enough touch to keep them from getting too complicated.

On the surface, at least, Vardalos’ movie grew into a franchise for the usual reason: money. My Big Fat Greek WeddingIt is the most successful romantic comedy ever. The later installments, including the aborted CBS spinoff/sequel from 2003. My Big Fat Greek LifeThe 2016 sequel My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2) weren’t cultural phenomena in the same way. Vardalos who has written the two films, and now gets to direct it, found there enough to come back again. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3. It isn’t so much a movie as a reunion, only compelling if you’re fond of this family and find Vardalos’ affection for them endearing. I’m fond of them myself — in the same way I’m fond of, say, Looney Tunes characters. Comedy is not about novelty, but consistency.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding films are characterized by broad humor and weak characters. This was a good formula for the original film. My Big Fat Greek Wedding’s success was the kind of slow burn that’s rare these days, in the era of narrow theatrical windows that quickly close so movies can rush to streaming or on-demand services. In its debut weekend the movie grossed only $597.362, but word-of-mouth slowly turned it into an overnight sensation. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Original Screenplay category at a period when romantic comedies were all but gone from award races. By almost any conceivable metric, the movie was a success.

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The reason is huge My Big Fat Greek WeddingThe fact that this was true made it possible to reach out and connect with the audience. You can also find out more about the different kinds ofThe film is a departure from the formula of other romantic comedies. Toula Portokalos wasn’t a wish-fulfillment avatar. She didn’t have a cool job at a magazine, she wasn’t an icon of early-2000s style, and any sense of self-deprecation came from dealing with her cartoonishly invasive family, not from her own insecurity or self-doubt. She didn’t wantShe didn’t want to be married, but wanted a different life than the one that she was living at her family restaurant. Ian Miller, (Corbett) happened to enter her life right at the time she made the decision to make a change.

Toula was more real than Hollywood, with her Greek roots and family. My Big Fat Greek WeddingIt is a specificity which becomes universal. Who isn’t a little embarrassed by their family sometimes? Marriage across socioeconomic or cultural divides is it ever easy? Don’t the people you love most drive you a little crazy sometimes?

It is difficult to franchise romantic comedies. While they can launch a series — Netflix’s adaptations of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and its sequels are a recent example — romantic comedies generally tie things up pretty neatly when the credits roll. They’re about two people meeting, having mishaps, then realizing they care for each other. They share this with one another and the story concludes. After that, everything is a new kind of film.

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The initial romance is resolved in a happy ever after. My Big Fat Greek Wedding sequels pivoted to the Portokalos family as a whole, and Toula’s long-suffering yet affectionate handling of their quirks as she moves through her life, uncomfortably close to them. In 2016’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, Toula and Ian’s teenage daughter, Paris (Elena Kampouris), feels suffocated by the family the way Toula did as a young woman, which Toula struggles to comprehend now that she’s a mother herself. Toula’s family and she travel to Greece for the last installment to see the birthplace of Gus. (Michael Constantine died between the sequels in 2021). They also give Gus’s journal to some friends.

These movies are often compared to sitcoms. Vardalos keeps the run times low — all three films clock in around 90 minutes long — but the plotting is shaggy and the conflict is minimal. They’re movies about people who already like and love each other, coming together to like and love each other a little more. This means viewers will probably only enjoy the sequels if they have a lot of residual affection for the original movie, since the sequels lack a strong hook — and often bend over backward to find a way to include a wedding and fulfill the series title.

That’s what makes My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3The plots are contrived and the jokes are hokey, but it is still enjoyable to watch. Vardalos, famously, based the Portokalos on her own family. The first film is a semi-autobiographical comedy inspired by Vardalos’ one-woman show of the same name, and watching these movies is like hanging out with her character in a crowded home full of her kooky relatives. They’re warm, they’re welcoming, and they’re very Greek. And as far as they’re concerned, when you’re hanging with them, you are too.

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The heart of the jokes in this trilogy is found here. Windex as a miracle cure; the Greek origins of English words; a proclivity for invasive, nosy gossip; and the wily, often uncomfortable raunch of Aunt Voula (Andrea Martin, who steals every scene) — it’s a family full of people so completely, brazenly It is a good idea to use that when they meet newcomers like Victory (Melina Kotselou), the nonbinary distant cousin introduced in the third movie, Victory’s pleasant refusal of gender norms barely registers. They’re a family so pushy, obnoxious, and proud of where they came from, they can’t help but respond to pride in others. Maybe they need a little nudging toward open-mindedness, but they ultimately can’t help but celebrate when others are able to be themselves. (That is, if being Greek isn’t an option.)

The Big Fat Greek Wedding films are American movies, in that they’re about the immigrant experience of setting up shop in a new country, while still keeping the flame of the old one alive in your heart. While the films eschew depth in favor of caricature, those caricatures remain recognizable: I can swap many Portokalos quirks for Rivera ones, and it takes very little editing for me to translate the films’ Greek American gags to Latin American goofs. That’s the secret to these movies. With language, food, and love, they’re always welcoming new blood — both the people who marry into the family, and the people in the audience who are invited to see themselves as honorary Portokaloses. It’s a Big Fat Greek extended family.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3Now playing in cinemas