21 years after the first part and 7 years after the second part, the third installment of the My Big Fat Greek Wedding film series has finally been released.
Many were surprised by the average artistic level and limited audience that the second part enjoyed in 2016, and despite the success of the first part to the extent that it won the title of the highest-grossing romantic comedy film ever and maintains it so far, continuing in theaters for nearly a full year, during which it earned $ 368 million against a budget of $ 5 million, in addition to being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, a success that its makers did not expect, the works that invested in this did not come. Equally popular or quality.
My Big Fat Greek Life, which was released in 2003 and gave audiences a rating of 4.7 points on IMDb, or the second part of the film, which grossed only $90 million, while its budget reached $18 million, and critics and audiences agreed on the stereotype of its idea without denying its suitability for viewing as a light film suitable for holidays.
Why now?
"My Big Greek Wedding 3" hit theaters in the second week of September, and by October it was available to watch on platforms, but its revenues did not exceed the $37 million mark.
The protagonists of the current sequel are the same old stars, including Nia Vardalos, the film's author and director, and John Corbett, Louis Mandelor, Elena Camporis, Gia Carrides, Joey Fatton, Lenny Kazan, and Andrea Martin.
Unlike previous parts set in Chicago, starting with a young woman from a Greek background falling in love with an American man and the subsequent clever comedy built on the different cultures, aspirations and customs of each family, then their success in actually getting married and their struggles with their teenage daughter who seeks to escape away from the unbridled hustle and bustle of the family, by searching for a very distant university opportunity, the whole new plot takes place in Greece.
Modest artistic experience
The events revolve around Tula, who before his death is recommended by her father to search for his old childhood friends and give them his diary, here the heroine's mind opens up to take the whole family on a journey to their ancient roots, where the father's birthplace is.
However, the Greece we are seeing this time is different from the one we saw in the movie "Mamma Mia!" It seems less dazzling and contemporary, on the one hand because the events take place in a remote village, and on the other because the work is Nia Vardallos' second directorial experience after a previous one in 2009.
Since she was not experienced in directing and her talent for it is limited, the experience did not come visually pleasing despite its components, as Vardalos only focused on mobilizing stars within the cast without paying attention to details and other aesthetics.
A scene from the movie "My Big Greek Wedding 3" (Variety)
In terms of writing, script and dialogue, it is not much different, because the plot is very superficial and disjointed, and even the problems faced by the heroes are extinguished before escalating to the climax, completely emptying the work of any excitement, but the main focus of the conflict and the heroine's attempts to find the three old friends of the late father are randomly conducted without focusing on them or celebrating the idea of finding them, until they became just silent compars.
However, it seems that the almost unanimity of what happened from critics that this part is better than the previous one, as it carries a lot of lightness and gentle family gestures, which made it worth watching when the comparison between the second and third part is made.
Escape to the inside
While the majority of modern artworks highlight citizens' attempts to migrate from their repressed or distressed homelands to more spacious and open countries, Vardalus chooses to take her protagonists back to their ancient origins in search of roots that connect them to the land of their early fathers and give them a real sense of belonging and centrality.
This topic may come into contact with the common people of immigrant families who are trying to integrate or search for points of intersection with their ancestors, and encounter vast cultural differences and radical differences in inherited traditions and modernist customs, resulting in many conflicts, although the film showcased this with a disruptive flattening that is more vulgar than comedy.
The best thing about the work was that the village where the heroes lived was devoid of a network of phone and Internet coverage, which forced everyone to merge together all the time and give viewers themselves about an hour and a half away from the hustle and bustle of social media platforms that swallow everything and give it either a degree of exaggeration or falsity.