LOVE IS HERE TO STAY… SO IS HER FAMILY.

At thirty, Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos) is losing hope that she’ll ever meet a man… but then a school teacher (John Corbett) enters her life; the only problem is that Toula’s Greek family won’t easily accept him. An enormous hit at the time, this romantic comedy evolved from Vardalos’s one-woman play where she explored what it was like growing up in a very Greek family. Filled with stereotypes (and some Greek-Americans were offended), the film tries to challenge a conservative culture, but can hardly be called daring. Still, it has a few funny lines, a colorful cast and valid points about the immigrant experience.

2002-U.S. 95 min. Color. Directed by Joel Zwick. Screenplay: Nia Vardalos. Cast: Nia Vardalos (Fotoula ”Toula” Portokalos), John Corbett (Ian Miller), Michael Constantine (Kostas ”Gus” Portokalos), Lainie Kazan, Andrea Martin, Joey Fatone.

Trivia: Co-produced by Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson. Followed by a TV series, My Big Fat Greek Life (2003), and a sequel, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016).

Quote: “Let me tell you something, Toula. The man is the head, but the woman is the neck. And she can turn the head any way she wants.” (Kazan to Vardalos)

IMDb