Directed by Joel Zwick

Written by Nia Vardalos

Nia Vardalos .... Fortoula 'Toula' Portokalos
John Corbett .... Ian Miller
Michael Constantine .... Gus Portokalos
Lainie Kazan .... Maria Portokalos
Andrea Martin .... Aunt Voula
Joey Fatone .... Cousin Angelo
Christina Eleusiniotis .... Toula (Age 6)
Kaylee Vieira .... Schoolgirl
John Kalangis .... Greek Teacher
Marita Zouravlioff .... Toula (Age 12)
Sarah Osman .... Athena (Age 15)
Petra Wildgoose .... Car Pool Friend
Melissa Todd .... Car Pool Friend
Bess Meisler .... Yiayia
Louis Mandylor .... Nicolas 'Nick' Portokalos
Gerry Mendicino .... Uncle Taki
Stavroula Logothettis .... Athena Portokalos
Constantine Tsapralis .... Foti
Gia Carides .... Cousin Nikki
Ian Gomez .... Mike
Jayne Eastwood .... Mrs. White
Frank Falcone .... Suitor
Eugene Martel .... Suitor
Joe Persechini .... Suitor
Peter Xynnis .... Suitor
Fiona Reid .... Harriet Miller
Bruce Gray .... Rodney Miller
Anthony Kandiotis .... Priest

Produced by
Paul Brooks .... executive producer
David Coatsworth .... co-producer
Gary Goetzman .... producer
Tom Hanks .... producer
Mark Hufnail .... co-executive producer
Jim Milio .... co-executive producer
Melissa Jo Peltier .... co-executive producer
Steve Shareshian .... executive producer
Norm Waitt .... executive producer
Rita Wilson .... producer

Original music by  Xandy Janko  and Chris Wilson

Cinematography by Jeff Jur
Film Editing by Mia Goldman

MPAA: Rated PG for sensuality and language.
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM, and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG

Everyone in the Portokalos family worries about Toula (NIA VARDALOS). Still unmarried at 30 years old, she works at Dancing Zorba’s, the Greek restaurant owned by her parents, Gus (MICHAEL CONSTANTINE) and Maria (LAINIE KAZAN) and smells like garlic bread. Vowing that she’d rather stab herself in the eye with a red-hot poker than work in the restaurant for the rest of her life, Toula is ready for a change. Unfortunately, the rest of her family is not.

After taking a job at her aunt’s travel agency, she falls in love with Ian Miller (JOHN CORBETT), a high school teacher who is tall, handsome and definitely not Greek. Toula isn’t sure which will be more upsetting to her old-fashioned father, that Ian is a Xeno (foreigner) or that he’s a vegetarian. But none of it matters once he asks her to marry him. Toula knows that if he can pass muster with her crazy relatives and get baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church...their big fat Greek wedding, including one powder blue limousine, two ice sculptures and ten bridesmaids in turquoise dresses, will be a piece of cake, five layers high with a plastic staircase and a fountain of champagne.

“MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING,” a romantic comedy from The Playtone Company, is based on the one-woman show written by and starring “Second City” alumna Nia Vardalos. Directed by Joel Zwick and adapted for the screen by Vardalos.

After seeing My Big Fat Greek Wedding I'm convinced I will not see a funnier film this year. I laughed out loud, along with absolutely everyone else in the theatre, throughout the entire film. And when everyone wasn't laughing I'm sure they were crying, or like me, trying not to. This is a film that has it all-unless, of course, you want car chases, explosions, special effects and shoot-em-up action. It's warm, touching and beautiful, but mostly downright funny. But it isn't trying to be funny, it just is. Usually when films try to be funny they are stale and boring, attempting to make us laugh by grossing us out (see: Tom Green). Here, it's the characters and events and the way the characters respond and react to the various events that makes it funny.

Our protagonist, Toula (Nia Vardalos, who also wrote the script), is a single Greek girl, who, as her father constantly points out, is starting to look old. She still lives with her parents and works at the family restaurant, and, as she suggests, has no life. Things change, however, when one day a handsome young schoolteacher meets a friend for lunch at her restaurant-she makes a fool of herself but leaves a lasting impression. And this incident inspires her to return to school, becoming the catalyst for the changes that will occur. She loses the frumpy look for a hipper one, and after a semester, begins working at her aunt's travel agency, where she eventually again meets up with the schoolteacher, Ian Miller.

The storyline is familiar, but not clichéd: The two fall in love, but he's not Greek, thus creating a barrier the two must overcome; his family's boring, her family's crazy, yada, yada. The plot is less important than the characters. They are people we can relate to, we interact with them while watching the film: her father, a dogmatic Greek Orthodox believes Windex is a cure-all, her grandmother is seemingly crazy, her mother is very empathic, she has a nagging aunt, and so on, they're all original, all very amusing. I find that the really humorous films are character driven; it takes more than just funny material.

I feel like I've concentrated too much on the humor, though. This film has some really touching moments. There is an especially loving moment between the three generations of women in Toula's family. And I learned a few things while watching this film: firstly, all families are crazy (your family isn't the only one; comforting, isn't it?), secondly, when men believe they've come up with a brilliant idea, it was probably orchestrated by women, and finally, we shouldn't let our pasts dictate who we are, but allow them to be a part of who we are becoming (that Dear Abby knows her stuff!).

It's so refreshing to see a lower budget film doing so well at the box office. I usually have to travel downtown to the Cumberland theatres to see independent and lesser-known films but watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding at an AMC theatre, and it was packed! What is also great about this film is people are actually going to see a thoughtful, intelligent picture, and they're telling their friends to go and see it. So, go see it, and then tell your friends you saw a film that they've gotta go and see! It's a funny, funny film that shows the transcendent nature of love and commitment.

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