At our local drug store, a display has been set up with about three dozen DVDs for sale. I was in the store for something else and noticed a copy of My Big Fat Greek Wedding for $7.99. Sold.
If you are a fan of the movie, don't own it, and find it in your drug store for $7.99, buy it and consider it money well spent-- not only for the movie, which is tons of fun, but especially for the commentary by Nia Vardalos, the lead actress (Toula) and writer of the movie; John Corbett, the lead hunk (Ian);
and Joel Zwick, who directed.
Of course they gush on and on. But Nia really gives a full, funny, and touching portrait of what it's like to be from a Greek immigrant family. With my Fulbright experience under my belt, I appreciate this account a whole lot more. I know what it feels like to circle dance, or to be expected to eat a lot, or to hear "opa" (hey-hey!) and "eucharisto" (thanks) in the course of a conversation in English. I even appreciate Michael Constantine's (Gus, the father) dead-on Greek accent, when he can't say the "sh" sound, just like our Greek instructor at NYU during the pre-departure orientation.
Yes, I'm a fan. And a hopeless romantic. For me, the commentary's best moment came during the wedding scene, when Nia was discussing the unconditional love Ian has for Toula: "Sometimes people say 'Is Ian too good to be true?' and I'm like, aren't you tired of the bad portrayals of men in movies? Like, isn't it about time we had this guy that is willing to do anything for the woman?...Why does the man have to be flawed for us to accept that he's an actual man?"
Amen to that, sister.
Photo: cnn.com
I have it in my netflix queue. Maybe I should move it nearer to the top!
Posted by: Lisa | September 16, 2005 at 03:54 PM
Watch it with your family-- and I mean, your entire extended family!
Posted by: DF | September 16, 2005 at 09:19 PM
Double-amen! To all o' that. Big Fat Greek Love. Nia Vardalos is so entirely charming.
What a shocking notion unflawed devotion is, and how bleak a commentary that is on us.
I was looking at my dog yesterday, thinking: I feel joy every time I see this being experience joy. I trust him implicitly, cherish his well-being, share everything I have with him without miserliness, laugh daily with him. Occasionally, he irritates me momentarily, and by the end of the day, I apologize to him for being irritated, knowing full well my irritation or impatience reflects my own failing, not his.
Wouldn't it be a groovy thing to love a two-footed person so well?
Posted by: Theriomorph | November 01, 2005 at 07:18 PM
I think people born without skins (see Theriomorph's blog... http://theriomorph.blogspot.com) do love people that way, and because they don't have skins they get hurt, and eventually scar tissue takes the place of skin.
Romance stories can be terrible lies and refuges of denial, but I like them because despite the everyday truth of romantic hurt, the mythological truth of sacrificial love still means a lot to me.
Posted by: DF | November 01, 2005 at 09:50 PM