Review of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016) by Pearl678 — 28 Mar 2016

I must be the outlier here because I think My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is better than the first effort. When the original came out, I thought it was a syrupy sweet greeting card with a plot that went nowhere.

Although the characters were great, all the dramatic tension, of you could call it that, felt manufactured. But I ended up seeing the thing several times because everyone else I knew seemed to love it.

When I saw the sequel was coming out Easter weekend, I was genuinely excited to go with my mom and have a fun day together seeing a cheesy movie. But darn it, if someone wasn't chopping onions in that theater.

It's so fun to have the cast back 14 years later, as well as the original house and restaurant sets. In the time since the first movie came out, I've gotten married and become a parent, so it was pretty poignant to see the restaurant again and remember the scenes from the first movie where the family was awkwardly getting to know Ian (deftly played by John Corbett) and think about how much life has changed since that scene, both for me and for the Portokalos'.

Now, Ian and Toula are parents to a teenaged daughter named Paris, and dealing with very relatable sandwich generation stresses. Yes, it would have been nice for Paris' interests and personality to have been rounded out more.

And there is one scene in particular that features some of the clunkiest dialogue since the '80s. The "wedding" part of the premise might be a hard sell for some, and I get that. But I think the performances are strong enough that the over-the-top-ness of the plot isn't too much.

At least this time there's a sense of actual questions being asked which may not resolve as expected. And I personally would much rather see this kind of stretch in a romantic comedy than the relatable-nerd-stalks-manic-pixie-dream-girl trope.

To sum up, the strength of the movie is that it's a romantic comedy about long term relationships after the shine has worn off and you're trying to keep a sense of yourselves as a couple despite having too many outside obligations.