My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (2023)
Toula and the gang are back and they’re going to Greece!
I have been waiting all year for this movie. The first Wedding is one of my favorites and a little personal because it came out a few months before my husband and I got married, so a lot of the humor was pretty on the nose for us. The second Wedding, while admittedly not as good as the first, was nice in its own way and it kind of grew on me.
When it came to Number Three, though, my only expectation was getting to spend some more time with Nia Vardalos’s characters. A lot of time has passed, some of the characters, including Gus and Rodney, are gone, with Maria at the beginning stages of dementia. The family feels a lack of motivation to get together the way they used to because the people who spearheaded those family gatherings are gone and time is passing.
Greece allows them to reconnect with each other and be reminded that they still have possibilities ahead of them. More funerals, sure, but more to look forward to, and certainly more family dinners.
3 is enjoyable, it really is. A trip to Greece is a natural next step for the Portokalos and Miller families, as it’s such a huge part of their identity, especially after the deaths of both Gus and Rodney. There’s a lot of fun to be had and plenty of deftly handled family situations including a long-lost half brother, Peter, who is honestly one of the best parts. The movie isn’t as crammed with humor as the first film, but it’s got a warm heart, and since the bulk of it takes place in Gus’s hometown, there’s a lot of connection to family history, such as the square Gus and his friends used to play in.
That said, in some ways the movie sometimes felt like it was trying too hard. Toula’s brother, Nick, in particular seems to have morphed into Homer Simpson, only instead of belching and noshing on pork rinds he’s always grooming himself in the most awkward ways right at the table while people are eating. As in shaving multiple parts of himself, which I won’t get specific about, clipping his toenails, trimming his ear hair, and so on. Everyone flinches and warns each other when Nick is at it again, but no one tells him to do what he’s doing somewhere else. Yuck.
Another thing I noticed was how empty the scenes felt. Sure, a lot of time has passed and people are off doing their own things, but with such a big family there should always be multiple someones around, and there just isn’t much of the big, loud chaos that defined the first two movies. No one’s roasting lamb on a spit in the front yard anymore, although Dancing Zorba’s is still a thing. Toula notices it, too—as she says, immigrant families are held together by sweat. She doesn’t feel right about everyone being scattered to the winds.
And there were too many things going on. There’s supposedly a family reunion happening, but Gus’s friends need to be found, plus there’s a romance between Peter’s son Cristos and a nice Syrian lady named Qamar. Naturally it has to be kept secret beccause Qamar isn’t Greek, but (spoiler alert) things turn out all right and there’s a wedding. Ian makes friends with a monk, presumably to give him something to do until he and Toula go on their own spontaneous side excursion. Paris tries going to a nude beach only to find her family had the same idea. Toula goes to the market and gets drunk because all the merchants insist on giving her free drinks. Nikki and Angelo help out with the friend search. Oh, and a young man Paris ghosted has been brought along on the trip by Aunt Voula as a porter.
Whew. Seeing as our group is only in Greece for two weeks it seems a little much. Still, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is a cute movie that I wouldn’t mind going back to when the time is right.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is currently in theaters. Rated PG-13.
My grade: B+
Principal Cast: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Louis Mandylor, Elena Kampouris, Lainie Kazan, Andrea Martin, Maria Vacratsis, Gia Carides, Joey Fatone, Elias Kacavas, Melina Kotselou, Alexis Georgegoulis, Stephanie Nur, Giannis Vasilottos, Anthi Andrepoulou, Spyros Kasfiks
Written and directed by Nia Vardalos.