{"id":26998,"date":"2023-09-07T23:49:45","date_gmt":"2023-09-08T06:49:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=26998"},"modified":"2023-09-07T23:49:45","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T06:49:45","slug":"my-big-fat-greek-wedding-3-may-amuse-fans-of-the-original-but-isnt-essential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=26998","title":{"rendered":"MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 3 May Amuse Fans of the Original, But Isn\u2019t Essential"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 92 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This title from Focus Features opens exclusively at\ncinemas on September 8th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been a little more than 20 years now since the romantic\ncomedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding<\/em> surprised the industry. The film charmed\naudiences, was well-received by the press, became a worldwide box office\nphenomenon and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.\nA lesser sequel followed in 2016 and now a third film has unexpectedly arrived.\nThe new locale adds a bit of freshness to My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, <\/em>butit also doesn\u2019t feel essential and is likely only suited to those who\nreally want to catch up with these particular characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story begins after the passing of Portokalos family\npatriarch Gus (originally played by the late Michael Constantine). With mother\nMaria (Lainie Kazan) now suffering from dementia, Toula (Nia Vardalos) decides\nto lead the family abroad and fulfill the final wish of her father. It involves\nvisiting the Greek village Gus grew up in and delivering a diary about his life\nto cousins and childhood friends. A reunion is arranged by town mayor Victory\n(Melina Kotselou), and so Toula, her husband Ian Miller (John Corbett) and\ndaughter Paris (Elena Kampouris), fly to Greece. Also joining them is Toula\u2019s\nbrother Nick (Louis Mandylor), aunts Voula (Andrea Martin) and Frieda (Maria\nVacratsis), as well as Aristotle (Elias Kacavas), a young man who recently\ndated Paris. Unfortunately, they all get a shock after reaching their\ndestination. The village is nearly deserted and no one has officially agreed to\nattend the reunion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who recall the original will remember that the humor\nwas very broad and family members presented in an over-the-top manner, bluntly\ninterjecting in personal conversations and regularly offering less-than-helpful\nadvice. It was anything but subtle and after two decades the approach hasn\u2019t\nchanged. Honestly, it\u2019s jarring early on to see the same comic techniques\nemployed (but with the dramatic stakes much lower). When extended family\nmembers vamp at the airport and cause trouble on the flight, it doesn\u2019t\ngenerate laughs and appears preposterous. There\u2019s a dated feel to the\nproceedings that might make viewers wonder if they have traveled back in time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But as awkward as the first act is, things slowly improve\nafter the leads arrive at the remote village and end up being forced to lodge\ntogether. It may simply be a matter of getting used to the old-fashioned humor\nand overly earnest delivery, but there are some yuks as Toula travels to a\nnearby city in order to try and hunt down family members. The confused\nreactions of Ian to various locals appearing unannounced at the door garners\nlaughs. A running gag involving Nick\u2019s unpleasant public body grooming habits\nalso hits the mark, as does the payoff to a scene involving daughter Paris\nsneaking away to visit a nude beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Greek locations are also gorgeous to behold and manage\nto add some visual pizazz as the characters explore their surroundings. And the\ncast do all seem to be happy to be in each other\u2019s company once again, which\ndoes help add some charm to the proceedings (even if the central story doesn\u2019t\noffer much as much of an opportunity to deliver either comedic conflict or\nstraight-faced drama to the proceedings).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the end, the movie requires some patience in order for viewers to get back on its old wavelength. Elements do feel on-the-nose and more gags whiff than actually hit the mark. But, and this is faint praise, somehow the cast do manage to generate a few laughs out of the material and the nice backdrops make the entire exercise feel more pleasant than grating (for those still wondering, the screenplay does manage to find a way to squeeze some nuptials into the story). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3<\/em> is certainly not an awards contender and isn\u2019t even a particularly winning rom-com. However, it is an affable effort that, after a lot of effort, it a slight improvement over its immediate predecessor.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 92 minutes This title from Focus Features opens exclusively at cinemas on September 8th. It\u2019s been a little more than 20 years now since the romantic comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding surprised the industry. The film charmed audiences, was well-received by the press, became a worldwide box office phenomenon and earned an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":26999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[213,1367,4660,7700,10841,14456,14457,14458,14459,14784],"class_list":["post-26998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-213","tag-andrea-martin","tag-comedy","tag-focus-features","tag-john-corbett","tag-my-big-fat-greek-wedding-3","tag-my-big-fat-greek-wedding-3-film-review","tag-my-big-fat-greek-wedding-3-movie-review","tag-my-big-fat-greek-wedding-3-review","tag-nia-vardalos"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26998\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}