We live in an age of remakes, reboots, prequels, and sequels. Hollywood, for all their wealth and influence, will take every opportunity to sell us yet another iteration of something we love — even at the risk of sullying the original. Like children, we are spoon-fed recognizable narratives while producers and execs eagerly wait for us to beg for more. (Sex and the City reboot And Just Like That…, anyone?) The chance to see our favourite characters on screen again invokes feelings of nostalgia. It offers us an opportunity to look back at who we were when the original came out and reflect on where we are now. Times are changing quickly, and studios are more eager than ever to capitalize on our nostalgia before it fades away forever.
Cue My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, another sequel to, you guessed it, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I attended a Tuesday discount showing with my mother and her friends. The theatre was buzzing with excited generation Xers, a demographic often overlooked by studios, who usually target baby boomers and millennials when it comes to nostalgic media. Twenty-one years ago our main character, Toula (played by Canadian screenwriter and director Nia Vardalos) navigated the cultural divide between her traditional Greek family and Ian, the non-Greek man she fell in love with. My mother — who remembers the film fondly as a popular rom-com of her mid-twenties — recited lines and catchphrases the entire way to the cinema.
Toula is now in her forties and grappling with the recent death of her father and her mother’s worsening dementia. Paris, her college-age daughter, is uncommunicative and distant. Her husband Ian remains the only normal and stable force in her crazy Greek life. What follows is a pilgrimage to fulfill their beloved pappous’ dying wish: travel to his childhood village on a remote Greek island to deliver his journal to his three best friends, whom he has not seen since immigrating to America in his youth.
Did the original film need to become a franchise? Probably not, but it’s nice to see the characters develop and change. The Portokalos siblings grappled with life changes together, shouldering the burden of familial responsibility once held by their parents. Toula came full circle: as a victim of her overbearing father, becoming a wife and mother, and eventually learning to allow her daughter to have autonomy over her mistakes. Though Paris didn’t really fix her problems, she did face the parts of herself that were hard to look at — an accomplishment for any 20-something. True to its roots, there’s an overarching theme of acceptance, because we can’t choose our family. I admit I shed a few tears as they yelled, ate, and dug deep to show each other love, support, and care.
I gladly accepted this spoonful of Hollywood sentimentality (despite its nausea-inducing editing), because it gave me the chance to spend time with my mother, and that’s what Pappous would have wanted. As we walked from the theatre and back to our cars, we had the chance to release our inner critics. After listening to the positive reviews from her friends, I turned to my mother, eager to hear her opinion. “It was okay…” she said, before forcing me to watch the original when we got home.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is a modest movie that reflects its aging audience and allows them to share an old favourite with their loved ones in a new way. Ultimately, the Portokalos clan emerges from their travels closer than ever — a testament to how far we are willing to go for those we love, despite what shortcomings or failings they may have. Sometimes, time and distance are no match for the ways we are connected.
Kiara Okonkwo is a writer and creative. She received a diploma in Screenwriting from Vancouver Film School and is pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Media and Communication Studies. Kiara values self-expression and authenticity.
