My Big Fat Greek Wedding Review

1. Name of the movie:

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

2. Date of movie/director/featured actors and actresses:

• August 2, 2002
• Director – Joel Zwick
• Featured actors and actresses:
  • Nia Vardalos
  • Michael Constantine
  • Christina Eleusiniotis
  • Kaylee Vieira
  • John Kalangis
  • Lainie Kazan

3. A short summary of the movie plot:

This movie is about a 30 year old girl named Toula and her extremely interesting Greek family. Toula is definitely the odd duck in the family who didn’t do anything like anyone expected. She was never the popular one as a young child and at the start of the movie we see how odd she really was when it shows her as a young kid. Then once she grows older she considers herself a “frump” girl until her dad allows her to go back to school when she washes her hair and gets rid of her glasses. She meets a guy that she really has a crush on. Unfortunately he’s not greek, which poses a huge predicament for Toula because the family rule is that Greeks marry Greeks. The movie is basically about how she shows her family that there is more than one way to get something done, and it’s not necessarily the way that everyone is used to.

4. What role does food play in the movie?

Food plays a major role in the movie. Basically every time the family is found in one shot there is some sort of meal being served. Toula’s family even owns the local Greek restaurant called the Dancing Zorbas which is ran by the entire family. Lots of the shots of the family are also shot in the kitchen of their house or around the dinner table. It shows how important a meal is in the Greek culture. That is where everything takes place is around the dinner table.

5. How does the movie use food to illustrate social/cultural/political/family/religious and/or psychological issues?

The movie uses food to help illustrate how important food is in the Greek culture. It has everything to do with everything. It shows that Greece has its own type of food different from other places. Food obviously plays a major role in the family which is shown by their owning the restaurant. The food in the movie also plays a psychological role which is evident throughout the movie. Anytime anyone had a hard time with a mental issue, the answer was to eat food. Like when Toula’s mom finds out that she is dating the non-greek guy, she immediately tells her to hurry and eat something.

6. What kind of personal relationships do the characters have with food?

The characters all have different connections when it comes to food, but all of them are connected somehow. It appears that there has to be food present at every family function and if there isn’t food, then something is wrong. It also appears that food and dancing are also closely related because throughout the movie anytime there is a lot of food present there is also a lot of dancing.

7. Did you like the movie? Why or why not?

I enjoyed the movie and found it rather entertaining. It was pretty funny throughout with all the different extremely strong personalities. It was almost crazy how much food there was throughout the movie. There wasn’t 5 minutes that went by in the movie without showing some type of food. The different characters were very funny. It was a very enjoyable movie overall.