Review of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, directed by Joel Zwick

It’s been so many years since I first saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and when I first saw it, I thought that it was an entertaining movie, but nothing special.

Disclaimer: I am not Greek, but am from a somewhat similar culture (I’m Iranian, but could recognize some of the behaviors being mentioned throughout the movie as being a part of our culture, so it’s not just a Greek thing), so I wasn’t seeing my life entirely reflected on the screen in some ways. It was an entertaining movie at the time though, but then I just forget about it until the third movie came out in theaters.

My sister had mentioned to me the existence of the third movie in 2023, which is when I am writing this, and I literally did a doubletake in that moment because I had no idea there was a third movie, let alone a second one. Then when I went on Netflix one day, there this movie was staring me in the eye. And because sometimes I’m an impulsive person, I went ahead and pressed play.

Let’s get into the review then, shall we?

Years after the first movie, the family grapples with new problems.

Set in Chicago and its suburbs, the third movie takes place when the main character, Toula, is now married and a daughter. The recession has hit at this point, and the family businesses have dried up, including her travel agency. The only family business that has survived is her father’s restaurant, while her husband, Ian, is working at the local high school.

They have a daughter named Paris, and she’s getting ready to apply to college. She expects to get away from this town, as she feels like her Greek family is way too much. In one instance, at the college fair, they all literally show up and embarrass her in public. It’s a teen’s worst nightmare.

Anyways, Toula is struggling with Ian because Toula is trying to be way too involved in her daughter’s life. She’s worried about her, and to cope with the trauma of growing up this way, she feels like she needs to fix her family’s problems to feel better.

At the same time, her father Gus has become obsessed with the fact he’s descended directly from the ruler Alexander the Great, and he wants a written confirmation that this is true. But when he goes through their family’s documents, he learns his wife and he were never married.

That means their marriage isn’t legit all these years, and when they go to the priest they see now, he says he can’t sign that one but he can arrange a completely new ceremony.

Gus believes they’re still married despite all of this, and Maria wants him to propose. When he says no, they begin a feud that bleeds into their public and private lives. Eventually, though, she gives in after he lands himself in the hospital.

But that means they have a wedding to plan, and these Greeks are only going to accept the finest by their terms. The family, and wedding planner, are going to make this wedding happen despite her outlandish demands, which means everyone and everything that they’re related to has to come into town in order for the ceremony to happen.

While all of this happens, Paris starts getting her college acceptance letters in the mail.

Her two choices come down to NYU and Northwestern, and she is going to succumb to her mother’s wishes to stay nearby and head to Northwestern. But after chatting with the great-grandmother in the family, she realizes she needs to go to NYU because that’s where her heart is at right now.

A boy she has a crush on, who awkwardly asked another girl out in front of her boyfriend, agrees to go to the prom with her, but it’s the same night as the wedding.

At the wedding, Maria storms off the altar after realizing Gus has gone drinking and is acting like a fool. After a motivational pep talk, she agrees to go get married, Ian and Toula recite their vows again, and Paris kisses the boy at the prom.

Gus later gets a letter confirming he is indeed a great descendant, which Toula forged, and everyone drops Paris off at her dorm in New York City.

Overall Thoughts

It’s not as great as the first movie was, but there are a lot of relevant themes and laughs scattered throughout this one. I will say I’m not enraptured enough to consider watching the third movie now because nothing is ever as good as the first or the original in my mind, and I’ll probably wait to press play on that whenever it hits streaming.

I do wonder about how movies like this relying on stereotypes feels a bit old fashion nowadays if you’re laughing and not a part of that specific group (and when I say this, does it feel okay to laugh about a stereotype of a group that you’re not apart of is more what I’m questioning, as it can feed into mainstream narratives), but there are decent themes to extrapolate as well.

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