[10]

We are welcomed back into the world of the Porku-Packa (Portokalos) family, with a movie so damn sweet it’ll give you the ‘beetus

Let me preface this by saying the first My Big Fat Greek Wedding is one of my favourite romantic comedies of all time. When I first heard news of a sequel coming out 14 years (wait it’s been 14 fucking YEARS?!?) after the original, obvious hesitation was my initial reaction since we’ve all become accustomed to the recent slew of comedy sequels that take place 10+ years after the original being less than stellar… cough Zoolander 2 and the absolute abomination that was Dumb and Dumber Eff Right Off.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is an incredibly enjoyable film.

If you were a fan of the first one, the sequel has a few more physical gags (the most glaring one was the quick shot of Toula getting hit in the head by the volleyball) that I’m not a huge fan of however, thankfully they didn’t overdo them and the characters are a bit more caricaturey, but overall I was laughing aloud during many scenes. This movie gave me and the audience genuine laughter and it was wonderful to experience.

The #1 job a comedy has, in my eyes, is to make you genuinely laugh.

Not “ah, I get it yeah” laughter. I mean serious guffaw laughter. There are SO many comedies out there that are not capable of the latter and instead, has a collection of the former for the entire run-time. Dumb and Dumber To? This movie provided a whopping total of 1 laugh from me, and it came at the end credits when it showed scenes from the original. Greek Wedding 2 had me laughing throughout.

The family dynamic between everyone is incredibly hilarious and Andrea Martin is an absolute riot and a half. Let me put this out there: if they decide to make anthology Greek Wedding films, I would not be opposed to a Rogue Thea: A Voula Story prequel. Regardless of whether you have an aunt similar to her (I have around 3), the completely sound advice she gives will have you cracking up throughout it and I am so glad she returned.

The weaker aspect of the film are the scenes set in the high school of Toula and Ian’s teenage daughter, moreso with the teenagers and promposals but let’s face it, teenagers suck anyway so this isn’t news. And thankfully those scenes are under 10 minutes so you can go to the bathroom when the scene contains only teenagers.

Elena Kampouris’ character of Paris actually develops. She has the regular teenage rebellion thing going on a bit but, and something I really appreciated, was you can tell she genuinely loves the family and without delving too much into spoiler territory, a realization is made regarding a huge decision that tugs on those heartstrings a bit. Especially with how that ultimate decision is made.

… It was a bit jarring seeing Lainie Kazan‘s new face but I got used to it.

I’ve been seeing a few saying John Corbett, for lack of a better word, sucks. He’s not anything too special but he certainly didn’t take me out of the movie. There is actually a pretty touching moment between he and his father that was pretty humourous, seeing the stark contrast between his family and Toula’s. Speaking of Toula, I love Nia Vardalos and her character works immensely well with every family member. I felt more of a connection with Toula and her thea Voula than her and her own mother but I think that’s more of a testament to Andrea Martin’s, again, fantastically hilarious performance.

This movie made me have a permanent smile on my face through its entire run-time and, from a pure selfish standpoint, I loved seeing them Toronto landmarks and side streets 🙂

If you’re a fan of the first My Big Fat Greek Wedding, watch the sequel. It has all the right amount of nostalgic callbacks without overshadowing it and really seeing everyone back together is worth the price of admission.

If you’re looking for a comedy sequel that isn’t terrible with a fun cast and have an hour and a half to spare, check out My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 receives 4/5 Matt Damon heads.