My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016)

A Portokalos family secret brings the beloved characters back together for an even bigger and Greeker wedding.

Director:

Kirk Jones

Writer:

Nia Vardalos

Stars:

Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Michael Constantine

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nia Vardalos	...	Toula
John Corbett	...	Ian
Michael Constantine	...	Gus
Lainie Kazan	...	Maria
Andrea Martin	...	Aunt Voula
Gia Carides	...	Nikki
Joey Fatone	...	Angelo
Elena Kampouris	...	Paris
Alex Wolff	...	Bennett
Louis Mandylor	...	Nick
Bess Meisler	...	Mana-Yiayia
Bruce Gray	...	Rodney Miller
Fiona Reid	...	Harriet Miller
Ian Gomez	...	Mike
Jayne Eastwood	...	Mrs. White

Storyline

Still working in her parents' Greek restaurant, Toula Portokalos' daughter, Paris, is growing up. She is getting ready to graduate high school and Toula and Ian are experiencing marital issues. When Toula's parents find out they were never officially married, another wedding is in the works. Can this big, fat, Greek event help to bring the family together?

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Plot Keywords:

male objectification | repeat sequel | wedding | greek | family restaurant | 

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Taglines:

People change. Greeks don't.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some suggestive material

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English Greek

Release Date:

25 March 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mi gran boda griega 2

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$17,861,950, 27 March 2016, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$59,573,085, 22 May 2016

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$26,120,000, 27 March 2016

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gold Circle Films,HBO Films,Playtone

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Tom Hanks produced the film.

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Goofs

Judging from the nearly overhead sunlight, the wedding is held during the afternoon, which is normal, but the high school prom is happening at the same time, which is odd. A prom in Chicago in the first half of May would typically start about the same time as sunset (7:30-8pm), so if the wedding started at the same time, it should not have been broad daylight when they exited the church.

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Quotes

Paris: It's what I want to do.
Mana-Yiayia: [knowingly] But it's not.

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Connections

Referenced in Half in the Bag: Hardcore Henry (2016)

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Soundtracks

Pou Pige Tosi Agapi
Written by Antonis & Dimitris Papavomvolakis aka Pegasos
Performed by Helena Paparizou
Courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment Greece
By arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

Thoughtful, Funny, Feel-Good Sequel

One of the features that I enjoyed about the original My Big Fat Greek Wedding was its low-stress plot line. It was a romantic comedy; you knew how it was going to end anyway. So Nia Vardalos did not bother to write faked-up plot twists to drive her characters apart. The tension, such as it was, was provided by the self-doubts of the main character, her romance with an outsider, and the surmountable obstacles and inevitable adjustments and culture clashes that such a union precipitated. As the main character blossomed from ugly duckling to swan, finding herself along the way, you really grew to care about her successes and to root for her burgeoning love affair with the perfect man, Ian.

The problem with such a Cinderella story is that a wedding marks the end of the road. Events after the wedding are practically irrelevant in the rom com tradition. So how do you write a sequel to a rom com? Many writers have revisited fairy tale romances, after the wedding, to tell bleak tales of doom, gloom, and disillusionment. Into the Woods is a prime example: fairy tale endings segue into misery, betrayal and destruction. Frankly, I find such post-Modern tales of woe to be intellectually lazy and tiresome. The reality of the post-wedding state may be complex but it is not universally unhappy. All weddings do not end in divorce! Nia Vardalos had the happy idea to make her sequel be about how we turn into our own parents as we raise our own children. In my opinion, there is no Hollywood comedy writer better equipped to address this topic than Nia Vardalos! Beneath the comedy shtick and general silliness, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is a thoughtful meditation on dealing with our inevitable transformations as we mutate from young lovers to parents to burgeoning empty-nesters, while learning to nurture ourselves and our primary relationships in the midst of overpowering family and outside-world demands. Do we take our partners for granted? Can we change at any age, as the world changes, or are we stuck? Can we come to terms with the choices that we've made in life? How do we do this while raising children, dealing with our aging parents, and the inevitable disappointments and bizarre turns that life has in store for us? The miracle is that Nia Vardalos and her team have managed to address these kinds of topics while making a fast-moving, slapstick, effervescent comedy that keeps an audience constantly laughing. I thought the film was a tremendous achievement, heart-warming and entertaining.

Some critics have dissed this film for being full of shtick and ethnic humor, and for having plot twists that "don't go anywhere." Why? Those were the features of the original film. I EXPECTED a film without woe or major crises, a romp. But I got a lot more. The subject matter was refreshingly adult.

Toula, the romantic lead from the original movie, has now become a working Mom, stuck again supporting her family's restaurant business, dealing with her teen daughter's angst and disdain. Toula's fairy tale makeover from the 1st film has disappeared: poor Toula has no time for the hairdresser's, she's trying to be SuperMom... driving her daughter even crazier. Amusingly, Ian is more perfect than ever, now Principal of his daughter's high school. Regardless, his own daughter wants him to pretend that they don't know one another "because the other kids think I'm a narc!" In addition, Toula's family has become so demanding that Toula and Ian's marriage suffers. The story really gets rolling when Toula's father, Gus, while researching his family tree to prove his direct descent from Alexander the Great, discovers that his own marriage was not legal. Can Gus overcome his male chauvinism long enough to woo his own wife into another Big Fat Greek Wedding? Like her father, Toula, too, takes her spouse for granted as she bounces between the demands of Motherhood and Daughterhood; Toula has become her father. Can these couples re-energize their own marriages? Can Toula and Ian's daughter, Paris, find her own love and/or strike out on her own? Or will they all be suffocated by their Big Greek Family? The unusual feature of this film is the parallelism of the generational story lines, parents and children and grandchildren, all struggling with related issues in their different ways, as they come to terms with themselves as individuals and as parts of the larger, all-devouring, eating-and-breeding Blob, the Portakalos family.

Nia Vardalos worked on the script for four years, and it pays off in her final fascinating and funny film. There are a handful of jokes and bits that die a thousand deaths, but the majority of the movie is hilarious and, overall, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is tremendous fun and a superior sequel.

In a final postscript: the coming-out-as-gay subplot featuring Joey Fatone. Some reviewers have criticized this subplot for going nowhere. As a gay/bisexual man, I must disagree with these reviewers. Joey Fatone's character's gay storyline is the next step in LGBT activism. Finally, a gay character who comes out to his family without major drama! At last! It's inspirational. Has this ever happened in a Hollywood film before? Nia Vardalos and director Kirk Jones must understand the significance, or why bother with the storyline as it stands in the final film? It's very uneventfulness is revolutionary. Sure, it would have been better if there had been more backstory. But I was just grateful to have a gay storyline in a film that was neither the butt of a joke nor a drama-soaked misery. It's about time!