My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 Movie Review

SOMETIMES it is beneficial to take time out from a nutty family that can drive you bonkers; you love them but space can be good for both parties.

The same goes for My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 and almost 15 years after the surprise hit of 2002, a revisit with this family somehow feels fresh after the break.

After several years of marriage, the spark between Toula (Nia Vardalos) and Ian (John Corbett) is slipping and they try to recapture the magic.

Meanwhile, their teenage daughter Paris (Elena Kampouris), who is perpetually embarrassed by her overbearing Greek family, is about to fly the coop and head off to college, much to Toula’s dismay.

The contrived wedding comes from the discovery the wedding certificate of Toula’s parents was not signed properly, and so another one is planned.

There must have been a lot of pressure to churn out a sequel immediately after My Big Fat Greek Wedding did the seemingly impossible of earning upwards of $240 million at the American box office. .

For whatever reason, it took 14 years to catch up with this Greek family, and it was the best move the filmmakers could have made.

It has allowed the characters to age, grow and evolve; they have lived life since the last story, and given its audience some distance, which is a key component because Greek Wedding 2 otherwise suffers from some typical sequel clichés.

The colourful array of characters deliver the quotient of quips, advice and Greek themed characteristics, and the majority of them do result in belly laughs.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 sticks to a formula (to be fair, the original did not break any new ground), but with a cast this likeable and its self-aware, goofy, feel-good attitude, this is a reunion hard to resist.

THE ESSENTIALS

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (PG)

Directed by: Kirk Jones

Starring: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Michael Constantine

Three and a half stars

Review by Julian Wright

In cinemas March 24