Toula, Nia Vardalos, is a rather drab thirty-something second generation Greek woman who`s not wild about her inherited fate: to marry a Greek, have Greek babies and serve lots of Greek food for the rest of her life. She works in the family`s restaurant, The Dancing Zorba, but when a chance comes to attend a computer course at college and work at her aunt`s travel agency, she grabs it. And it`s through the agency that she meets Ian Miller, John Corbett, who comes from a more stitched-up genetic pool. When their relationship becomes serious, so does the situation with her father at home. This possibly over-exuberant clash of cultures began life on stage as a one woman show written by and featuring Nia Vardalos.
Tom Hanks` wife Rita Wilson, who is of a Greek-American background, saw the play and was the driving force behind turning it into a film. She and her husband are executive producers. There are some sweet and occasionally sentimental moments in the film, a stoic performance from Nia Vardalos in the pivotal role of Toula, and some rather unsublte ones from members of the cast playing her relatives; Laine Kazan as her mother, Andrea Martin as her Aunt Voula, and a rather boring one from John Corbett.
Director Joel Zwick who`s worked mainly in television hasn`t brought brilliance to the film but he`s sure brought success.
Comments from David StrattonThe phenomenal success of this film is almost more interesting than the film itself, which is a pretty familiar sit-com with at least one joke from THE WOG BOY with predictable situations and very ordinary direction. Still, it`s hard not to warm to such a well-observed, good-natured film, even if it covers absolutely no new ground.
