The Portokalos family is back for new adventures, this time in Greece. Let’s say it straight away: we loved the first two films which featured this colorful, endearing and invasive family. Despite the clichés about the Greeks and the caricatured characters, we laughed at the burlesque situations, at the blue and white Parthenon-shaped house of the Portokalos in a neighborhood of Chicago, and at the frankly funny gags, even if often a little easy.
The first film in this trilogy created a real surprise, since My Big Fat Greek Wedding was a huge box office success when it was released in 2002 and revealed Canadian actress and screenwriter of Greek origin Nia Vardalos. It even received an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay.
In My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, the Portokalos family returns to their origins and takes a trip to Greece. The last wish of Gus, Toula’s deceased father, is for the family to return to the village of their childhood and find their best friends, invited to a big reunion.
More than 20 years after the first film, the tone of this third part is more tender and full of nostalgia. The film is dedicated to actor Michael Constantine, who died in 2021 at age 94, who played the patriarch of the Portokalos family. The one who had left Greece to immigrate to the United States, who worked all his life and who ended up accepting that his daughter should marry an American (and not a Greek).
Toula (Nia Vardalos) and her brother Nick (Louis Mandylor) therefore wish to carry out their father’s last wish and find themselves in the footsteps of his past, his diary in hand, in this small, lost and abandoned village, where he remains more than a scary grandmother and a Syrian refugee, and a few other surprises awaiting them. The family discovers its origins and becomes friends with the inhabitants. It is about sharing traditions, memories, passing them on to the new generation, the importance of family and the desire to enjoy life.
Fortunately, Greece and its sumptuous landscapes play the main role and amaze us, because Nia Vardalos’ script is thin and disjointed. Not much happens in this film, and the dialogues are almost non-existent, as are the gags. On the cast side, we find the one who plays Toula’s husband, John Corbett, who is little highlighted, and the one who steals the show, Aunt Voula (Andrea Martin), hilarious and irresistible.
Nia Vardalos, in addition to being the lead and screenwriter of the film, also directed this comedy, her second feature film, shot in Athens and on the island of Corfu. This film, like the other two, is co-produced by Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson (of Greek origin).
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is a sweet movie, made for those who miss the Portokalos family and want to escape to the Greek islands. Still charming, but much less original.
