It's not surprising that My Big Fat Greek
Wedding grew more popular over the course of its theatrical release (whereas
most blockbusters open big and then drop precipitously)--not only does it
have believable situations and engaging characters, but these characters
(particularly our romantic heroine, Toula, played by writer and performer
Nia Vardalos) look like actual human beings instead of plastic movie stars.
The result is the very accessible tale of Greek-American Toula (whose family
sees her as over the hill at 30), who falls for a WASPy guy named Ian (John
Corbett) and then has to endure the outrage, doubt, and ultimate acceptance
of her deeply ethnically centered family. The actors invest their wildly
stereotypical portrayals with sincerity and compassion, giving the movie an
honest warmth instead of Hollywood schmaltz. But My Big Fat Greek Wedding
ultimately succeeds because of Vardalos; her intelligent, down-to-earth
presence and charm carry the film.
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Monsoon Wedding (2001)
Monsoon Wedding is a return to form for Mira
Nair, director of 1988's Salaam Bombay! Nair's gift for observation of the
everyday and her love for her characters make for a delightful film, which
spins a web of family relationships that knit and break during a wedding at
a perfect pace. The excellent performances exceed the often stereotypical
roles on offer (including the incomparable Nasiruddin Shah as the harassed
father, Kulbhushan Kharbanda as the comic uncle, and Shefali Chaya as the
orphaned cousin). Nair's sympathetic eye for the unnoticed and the harassed
is at its best with the tender romance between the servant and Dube (Vijay
Raaz), the marigold-munching, upwardly mobile wedding coordinator, who
brings pathos and humor to the often unseen servant classes. The handheld
camera gives a docudrama feel to this celebratory look at the
upper-middle-class Hindu Punjabi joint family, while paying tribute to
modern Indian public culture of music, television, and, of course, "Bollywood."
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Father of the Bride
This '90s update of the Spencer Tracy-Elizabeth Taylor hit is
a mix of the pleasant and the silly, a nice enough movie but a little too
controlled to become particularly interesting. Steve Martin plays the aging
patriarch who is threatened by his daughter's engagement and
not-quite-willing to let her go. The writing-directing team of Charles Shyer
and Nancy Meyers provides Martin's character with a perhaps too-broad range
of comic responsiveness to the situation, some of it gentle (a ritual game
of basketball between dad and his little girl) and some of it slapstick
(Martin sneaking around his prospective in-laws' house and encountering a
guard dog). Martin Short turns up as a wedding coordinator--which has
deliriously delicious possibilities--but his inventiveness doesn't quite
strike the chord this time.
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Runaway Bride (1999)
It took nearly a decade to find a mutually
agreeable screenplay, but the stars and director of Pretty Woman finally
reunited to make Runaway Bride, wisely avoiding any attempt to recapture the
1990 film's elusive magic. The result is a perfectly pleasant romantic
comedy that would've fared better critically (despite boffo box office) if
it hadn't been overshadowed by its blockbuster predecessor. It's certainly a
more credible film than Pretty Woman, trading a far-fetched fairy tale
(hooker hooks up with tycoon? bah!) for a more amiably conventional plot
about big-city reporter Ike Graham (Richard Gere) who falls for a small-town
handywoman Maggie Carpenter (Julia Roberts) with a nasty habit of fleeing
from the altar in a recurring state of premarital panic.
Both characters are instantly likable, and the smooth dialogue by Josann
McGibbon and Sara Parriott only occasionally panders to sitcom cuteness. And
despite his routine sacrifice of subtle craft for commercial appeal,
director Garry Marshall knows when to trust his stars and material, lending
this movie a casual charm (aided by a terrific supporting cast) that never
feels forced or artificial. The whole thing's utterly predictable, riding on
the suspenseless question of whether Maggie will dump her sports-nut fiancé
(Christopher Meloni) and tie the knot with Ike. It's a foregone conclusion
after the usual games of romantic cat and mouse, but the chemistry between
Roberts and Gere is undeniable, and with a decade's worth of additional
stardom between them, they shine as brightly as ever.
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