My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Every so often a film comes along from nowhere and swooshes through cinemas like a breath of fresh air. Ah, but My Big Fat Greek Wedding didn’t simply swoosh, it was more like a force gazillion hurricane – not bad for a flick which cost a paltry US$5 million to make. And the reason for its success is simple; it’s a film that is completely pure at heart – a beautiful, romantic fairytale with a fabulous line in subtle, but often uproariously funny, humour. It also has at its big fat heart a story which speaks to so many, with people of all races and religions out there knowing the obstacles they can still face today when getting involved with somebody “not of their kind�.

The back story of how it all came about is pretty much the stuff of legend now. The writer and star, Second City alumni Nia Verdalos, took large chunks of her life experience, fed steroids to a few others and then unleashed a one-woman stage show. Then Rita Wilson, or Mrs Tom Hanks, caught a performance of the show and fell in love with it - she met Nia backstage, suggested it would make a wonderful movie and had an already prepared script eagerly thrust into her hands. Rita dragged her hubby along to a performance, and a phone call later that elusive green light was given to make My Big Fat Greek Wedding into a film – complete with the delightfully bubbly Verdalos as star.

Your personal Greek statue.

It’s all a quite beautifully simple tale. The rather deflated and frumpy Toula Portokalas (Verdalos) is, shock and horror, a 30 year old Greek girl who is yet to be married. As such she has ignored the three rules every good Greek girl has drummed into her from birth – you marry a Greek boy, you have Greek babies and you feed everyone. Her father Gus (Michael Constantine), a man whose cure for everything from swollen toes to zits is a quick squirt of the old Windex, is at a loss what to do – his wayward daughter won’t even go to Greece to snare a partner! Toula spends her time working as a “seating hostess� at the family-owned restaurant, Dancing Zorba’s, all the while wishing she was braver, prettier and happy, but resigned to the apparent fact that nothing ever changes.

Ah, but then one day Ian walks into the restaurant. A tall, long-haired and hunky – but most certainly not Greek – man who Toula can’t help but be shell-shocked by. Before she knows it he’s gone, however he seems to have had some sort of magical effect on her. Soon after a wave of courage comes over her, she enrols in a computer course – de-frumping and gaining confidence all the while - and eventually, with no end of help from some wonderful familial feminine wiles, she lands a job looking after her aunt’s travel agency. Then who should wander back into her life one day but Ian...

"There are two kinds of people - Greeks, and everybody who wish they was Greek."

Ee-yun!!!

The pair hit it off straight away, they date under cover of supposed pottery classes and subsequently fall in love – but how will it work out? After all he’s just not Greek! With the guilt laid on spatula-style from her family, Toula defiantly pursues the relationship regardless, and nobody – not even she – realises the lengths Ian will go to in order to make the relationship work – he can even handle the extremely close, and extremely big, family that comes with the package.

You may now kiss the meringue...

My Big Fat Greek Wedding may have been made on a teensy budget, however there’s no sign of it visually. Smashing its way onto DVD in its original cinematic ratio of 1.85:1 (16:9 enhanced, of course), it is a sea of deliciously vivid hues even more colourful than Toula’s family, and is almost entirely free of blemishes (they missed zapping about three speckles with the Windex). Blacks are perfect and shadow detail is superb, some may find the image a little bit soft; however this doesn’t affect detail in any detrimental way, and does lead to a complete absence of such icky things as aliasing and shimmer. Really the only sucky thing here is the layer change, plonked somewhat savagely in the middle of a scene, sure it navigates fairly quickly, but it’s more obvious than a wedding day pimple.

Dolby Digital 5.1 is the order of the day, and as is often the case with romantic comedies there isn’t an awful lot for anything that doesn’t claim to be a front speaker to get busy with. The subwoofwoof scarcely raises a dull moan, while the rears are used very subtly for the odd bit of atmosphere or to add a bit of extra life to the fabulously Greek-tinged score from Alexander Janko. Synch is spot-on throughout, and anybody vaguely used to an accent will have no trouble working out what’s being said. The only minor niggle is some quiet, but still noticeable hiss in many scenes. Most won't notice, some may be annoyed by it, but at any rate you've been warned!

My Big Fat Greek Menu.

The film’s low-budget beginnings may be the answer to why there’s not a lot in the way of bonus goodies here to dance about with.

There is, however, a fabulous commentary featuring Nia Verdalos, John Corbett and director Joel Zwick. Perhaps not surprisingly the always effervescent Nia dominates proceedings, opting for a refreshing vibe which delves more into the story on-screen and how everything came about, along with all manner of amusing anecdotes, rather than boring old technical jargon.

A theatrical trailer is also included (2:02, 1.85:1, 16:9 enhanced), however it’s one of those annoying little buggers that gives away the bulk of the fabulous humorous moments in the film – so watch the feature first if you wish to get its full effect. Some fairly thorough biographies are also here for the reading, delving into the careers of nine of the cast and also the director. A quick hunt about the 'Special features' menu may also reveal something of the egg variety...

Finally there are two interviews - and in what is another reason to applaud Roadshow they’re exclusive to the Australian release. A fairly fluffy 4:32, 16:9-enhanced chat with Richard Wilkins from The Today Show rubs shoulders with a much more substantial, and generally highly entertaining, radio interview conducted by Libbi Gorr (who some may know as Elle Product-From-an-Overrated-Burger-Chain) which runs for 17:09. Visual accompaniment comes in the form of a series of stills of Nia, followed by some vision-only behind the scenes footage from the wedding.

It is so rare that a G-rated film comes along that isn’t either aimed firmly at kids, or avoids being so syrupy and mawkish that it inspires projectile vomiting. My Big Fat Greek Wedding manages to steer clear of such pitfalls effortlessly, with a simple happy-tears inspiring tale which most everybody can find something within to identify with, and fine performances from everybody who ambles onto the screen – yes, even that guy from *Nsync.

The DVD doesn’t disappoint in the video department, the sound is decent enough for a film of this style and we actually score more extras than those overseas. My Big Fat Greek Wedding is simply such a gem of a film that it deserves a spot on the shelves of anybody with even the merest skerrick of romance in them. Opa!