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The original 2002 " My Big Fat Greek Wedding " is one of the most financially successful movies ever made, in terms of cost-to-return, earning over $360 million worldwide on a $5 million production budget. Of course, there would be sequels; the only mystery is why there haven't been five or ten by now, rather than just two. The films are formulaic, but it's an appealing formula, like a family recipe for a comfort food dish that isn't going to win any Michelin stars but satisfies because it reminds you of being loved and taken care of.

Despite detractors complaining that the original was a TV sitcom in cinematic drag, the concept clearly works better as a series of self-contained films than a TV show: whereas the spin-off sitcom "My Big Fat Greek Life" ran less than a full season, " My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 " was a hit, despite being released 14 years after the original, returning nearly five times its production budget. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3" will probably be a success as well because writer/star Nia Vardalos , aka Toula Portokalos, created the recipe and is running the kitchen now (it's her second directorial endeavor after 2009's " I Hate Valentine's Day "). She knows what the customer likes.

The biggest hurdle to creating another chapter in this family saga was the absence of Michael Constantine , who died at 94 after two performances as the Portokalos family's gruff, impulsive, but bighearted patriarch, Gus. Vardalos follows the path of many smart franchise filmmakers who have to deal with the death of a primary cast member and leans into the immutable facts of life. We learn that Gus wanted the extended family to convene in the Portokalos clan's ancestral home, a small village in Greece, and reunite with surviving relatives from the old days, but he didn't live long enough to see his dream come true. What follows is an extended commercial for Greek vacations and the idealized immigrant family.

The craftiness of the "Wedding" films lies in how they introduce multiple "conflicts" that aren't conflicts and then resolve them without the characters having to sacrifice much of anything. The major and minor characters are all fundamentally decent (though sometimes grating or insensitive, in a lightly comic way), and tend to be related to the same intensely loyal family by blood, marriage, or deep friendship. They talk about the problems they're saddled with, but you don't see them working hard to solve them or losing anything they can’t get back. Often, the situation is resolved by having another character take care of it without much evident exertion. The ultimate example can be found in the second film: Gus has to remarry his wife Maria ( Lainie Kazan ) because he's discovered that the priest who officiated at their wedding never signed their marriage certificate; Maria won't agree to a second ceremony unless Gus makes a proper proposal; he refuses; there's a bit of a minor strife over this impasse; then Gus ends up in the hospital, and Maria refuses to visit him because she's legally not his wife, and he relents and gives her a version of what she wants, because the movie has the word "wedding" in its title.

"My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3" is filled with variations of this. The town is depopulated when the family arrives, and we find out it's because the springs that used to flow through the town are stopped up. By the end of the film, they're running again after a montage of action that lasts about a minute and looks so simple that you wonder why the townspeople didn't do it already. Toula's brother Nick ( Louis Mandylor , whose natural soulfulness is undercut by gross-out gags) is obsessed with finding a tree his father said he used to sit under. He wanders around the forest next to the village night after night, not finding it, then even finds it through no effort of his own.

There's tension between the Greek locals and the Syrian refugees who work as laborers for them, represented by a new character, Stephanie Nur's Quamar. But Quamar is the only Syrian character of note, and you know that by the end of the story, everyone will be dancing and drinking together and having a marvelous time. Would a small rural town with an admitted but undramatized xenophobia problem be so accepting of a young, loud, proudly non-binary woman (Melina Kotselou's Victory) that they would permit her to serve as the mayor, even with the caveat that no one else ran for office? The film doesn't trouble itself with such questions. It's set in a universe where a barrage of quips, a few lucky breaks, and a couple of glasses of wine or shots of ouzo solve everything.

We're told that, in the old days, Dad had three dear friends. They're pictured in a leather-bound memory book that he kept as a young man before he came to America. Toula frets about locating them so they can attend the reunion. But after several days of fruitless wandering around the local marketplaces and homes, she gives up in despair. Of course, the three friends ultimately do attend because this is not the kind of film that could stomach the disappointment of their not attending, and their attendance comes about less from clever detective work than pure luck.

Representatives of the youngest generation have their own non-conflict to not deal with. Toula and her husband Ian ( John Corbett ) bring their daughter Paris ( Elena Kampouris ), and they're joined by Paris' thwarted college suitor Aristotle ( Elias Kacavas ), a sweet, decent young man who nonetheless attaches himself to the family like a tick. What came between them turns out to be a negligible, entirely self-inflicted "it's not you, it's me" contrivance, and it's solved in a brief conversation near the end of the story that could have just as easily happened when they were forced to sit next to each other on the flight from Chicago.

Lanie Kazan walks a tightrope created by Vardalos' script, which has the now middle-aged kids worrying that Maria is in denial about the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Maria isn't there yet and pranks them a couple of times, but the film ultimately does concede that a hard reality is right around the corner. Kazan plays the moment so well—as do Vardalos and Mandylor, as the characters realize what's happening—that it reemphasizes the extent to which this series' success is founded on glossing over the complex issues that better movies engage with.

Ian seems to embody the film's ideal of popular storytelling, which, to be fair, has been proven commercial twice now. He's the perfect heterosexual man: funny and goofy and energetic without ever becoming annoying, handsome and fit but never preening or self-regarding, solid in a crisis, and naturally empathetic without seeming like he's trying too hard. Nothing about him is unpleasant or objectionable. He is acceptable to all life experiences and cultures: a vanilla ice cream cone in the form of a person. There was no real conflict about his and Toula's relationship in the first film, either, if we're being honest. Yes, her family would've preferred she married a Greek, but it's not as if she'd brought home a bigoted stand-up comic with a gambling problem.

The film's standout element is the work of ace comedy cinematographer Barry Peterson (" Zoolander ," " Central Intelligence ," " Game Night "). It's modest, tasteful, and serves the story, and likely wouldn't have seemed praiseworthy twenty-some years ago when a minimal level of professionalism was expected on major productions, and the use of 35mm film guaranteed a certain amount of beauty and texture even if the compositions and lighting were nothing special. But it makes a big impression now that so much Hollywood cinematography in the digital era has become slovenly. Notice the crispness here of the nighttime scenes shot in forests and on cobblestone streets, which put across the idea of "darkness" without making you squint through pixilated sludge trying to find the actors; also, the way Petersen amplifies the bright blue of the Aegean and the zigzag lines of the hills of Corfu, where much of the movie was shot. There's more excitement in the images than the story.

This second sequel is escapist in a next-level way: it escapes from drama as well as life. The Greek tourism board is going to love it.

Now playing in theaters.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

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Film credits.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (2023)

Rated PG-13 for suggestive material and some nudity.

Nia Vardalos as Toula Portokalos-Miller

John Corbett as Ian Miller

Elena Kampouris as Paris Miller

Lainie Kazan as Maria Portokalos

Andrea Martin as Aunt Voula

Maria Vacratsis as Aunt Freida

Louis Mandylor as Nick Portokalos

Joey Fatone as Angelo Portokalos

Gia Carides as Nikki Portokalos

Elias Kacavas as Aristotle

Nia Vardalos

Cinematographer

Barry Peterson
Annette Davey
Craig Herring
Stephanie Economou

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My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Reviews

Somehow, someway, in the summer of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” which renewed the hope of film fans that quality cinema was fighting back, there’s now “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3.” Alas, it’s the Trojan Horse of movies.

Full Review | Oct 21, 2023

This movie is as successful as the sitcom spinoff they tried in the early 2000s, which means it was unsuccessful. I can’t really suggest going to see this; even with a few fun performances, it just wasn’t enough to not feel like a complete waste of time.

Full Review | Original Score: D | Oct 5, 2023

It's very well-intentioned, but it doesn't hit the notes and ends up feeling like a medley of greatest hits from the first two.

Full Review | Oct 3, 2023

Overall the vibe is feelgood - Mamma Mia! minus the Abba songs - helped along by jokes as cheesy as barrel-aged feta.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 29, 2023

Frida is wonderful. It may inspire newcomers to dive deep into Frida’s life and work; it may offer the familiar a delightful new perspective on the woman.

Full Review | Sep 27, 2023

Much, in fact, is up in the air. The only grounded member of the clan is Aunt Voula (Andrea Martin) who has a great one-liner when you need it the most. She finds laughs even when Nia Vardalos wasn’t counting on them.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Sep 22, 2023

One trip to the well too many.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Sep 21, 2023

All you’re trying to do is recapture the magic and sadly My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 just can’t find it.

Full Review | Sep 21, 2023

A satire can be both beautiful and witty at the same time, but it takes more than people screaming or bumping their heads to help the humor part land.

Full Review | Sep 19, 2023

Writer/director/star Nia Vardalos should have given My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 the title My Big Fat Pathetic Excuse for a Movie Sequel. This dull, unfunny film drags down to embarrassing levels of stale jokes that would be rejected by amateur comedians.

Full Review | Sep 18, 2023

Credit cinematographer Barry Peterson for making this an enticing Aegean travelogue but - as a feature film - it's a bit of a bittersweet disappointment, relying on cliche-riddled ethnic humor to sustain its lovably familiar, colorful characters.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Sep 16, 2023

I might be swimming against the tide here: I enjoyed this movie a lot.

Full Review | Sep 15, 2023

I was physically uncomfortable the whole way through, because this is just a fever dream of bad choices.

While the latest effort is slightly better than the previous film, its still pretty miserable -- a pale imitation of the original that plays more like a travel ad for Greece than an actual feature film.

Full Review | Original Score: D- | Sep 15, 2023

Desperate to wring every last bit of charm and goodwill from its stale premise, this third installment in the 20-year-old comedy franchise is more content to rehash than refresh.

As much presence and charisma as an olive oil commercial.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 15, 2023

In spite of its third-film shortcomings, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 has some genuine laughs and a healthy dose of heart.

There’s not an original idea in Ms Vardalos’ pretty head here, and it’s just a shame that in is her directorial debut she didn’t even have the courage to jettison the light comedy for the social commentary on the tip of her tongue.

Full Review | Sep 14, 2023

No matter whether fleshing out a sappy subplot about young love or firing off a silly sight gag about how not to be a holiday-maker in Corfu, every single joke comes as flat, forced and futile.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Sep 13, 2023

No amount of Windex can fix My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, which is yet another disappointing sequel in a series that has truly worn out its welcome.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Sep 13, 2023

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My big fat greek wedding 3, common sense media reviewers.

Underwhelming threequel best for die-hard fans; innuendo.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Encourages strong family bonds, connecting with yo

Toula and Ian are loving, encouraging, supportive

Centers around a Greek American family and their G

Some physical comedy, like when a character hits h

A character realizes that she's at a nude beach wh

"I suck." Two men scream when taking cold showers

iPhone, iPad, Windex.

The Greek American tourists drink so many free sho

Positive Messages

Encourages strong family bonds, connecting with your family's cultural background, honest communication with friends and family, and acceptance/inclusion of immigrants and refugees.

Positive Role Models

Toula and Ian are loving, encouraging, supportive parents to Paris. The aunties are nosy but caring and well-meaning. Paris learns from her mistakes and by communicating honestly with her parents and her suitor.

Diverse Representations

Centers around a Greek American family and their Greek village and extended relatives. Characters all have a strong sense of their cultural background, are loud and proud to be Greek. Though the film uses Greek stereotypes for humor -- like the "auntie" who feels up people to proclaim them too thin, or the brother who's so hairy he has to shave (everywhere) in practically every scene -- they're affectionately drawn and are based on the lived experience of writer-director and star Nia Vardalos. Brief representation of Syrian and Ukrainian refugees in Greece, how they're treated with compassion but not necessarily acceptance when it comes to intermarriage. Several characters are played by Greek actors, including Vardalos (Toula), Louis Mandylor (Nikos), Elena Kampouris (Paris), Gia Carides (Cousin Nikki), and Elias Kacavas (Aristotle). A supporting character is nonbinary. The film has strong female characters and showcases loving relationships between generations of mothers, daughters, aunts, cousins, etc.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Some physical comedy, like when a character hits her head while trying to stand up on a plane or get on a donkey or smooshes her head against a window.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A character realizes that she's at a nude beach when she sees that everyone is naked (no actual nudity beyond bare backs and legs and men's bare chests, because everyone has strategically placed props in front of their genitals). A married couple kiss, embrace, and joke about sneaking away to make out. An auntie refers to them going at it like badgers when they were younger and to her own libidinous past. Two characters flirt, dance, and kiss once. An engaged couple kisses and is extra affectionate. A woman talks about a handsome man she keeps seeing (he turns out to be a relative). A woman touches two characters to explain how they have no breasts, butt, or anything "to hold on to" in a matter-of-fact way. A character jokes that a couple should wait for Easter to have sex. A man drops his robe during a FaceTime convo, making it clear that his sister and brother-in-law can see him naked before ending the call.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

"I suck." Two men scream when taking cold showers what sounds like "damn!" or "God!"

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Drinking, drugs & smoking.

The Greek American tourists drink so many free shots of ouzo that they get drunk and have hangovers. Adults drink at dinners and parties. Two college students who could be of age in Greece drink at a nightclub and are shown sleepy and hung over the next day.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is the third installment in writer-director-actor Nia Vardalos ' comedy franchise about a Greek American woman and her boisterous family. This time around, Toula Portokalos (Vardalos); her non-Greek husband, Ian ( John Corbett ); and their daughter, Paris ( Elena Kampouris ), join a contingent of the Portokalos family heading to Greece for a reunion. Expect a fair bit of innuendo and kissing, including an often undressed uncle -- while there's no graphic nudity, there's lots of skin, especially during a scene at a nude beach. There are also many jokes about Greek culture, cuisine, and behavior. Language doesn't get stronger than "sucks" and "damn," but there are several scenes of adults drinking and getting drunk (played for humor), always with morning-after consequences. One Greek woman crosses boundaries and gets handsy with adult strangers, fondling them and saying that they're too thin and have nothing for their significant others to "hold on to." Though the film uses Greek stereotypes for humor, they're affectionately drawn and are based on Vardalos' lived experience (she and several members of the cast are of Greek descent). The movie encourages strong family bonds and honest communication. It also explores how to welcome immigrants/refugees -- as well as the trickier issue of some people's resistance to marrying outside a family's cultural community. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

Parents say (4)
Kids say (2)

Based on 4 parent reviews

Terrible movie - 90 minutes of your life that you will never get back!

It’s a fun movie, what's the story.

In MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 3, the Portokalos family has lost their patriarch, Gus (actor Michael Constantine died in 2021). Toula (writer-director Nia Vardalos ); her husband, Ian ( John Corbett ); and their college-aged daughter, Paris ( Elena Kampouris ) -- as well as Toula's brother Nikos ( Louis Mandylor ), their aunts Voula ( Andrea Martin ) and Frieda (Maria Vacratsis), and fellow Greek American guide Aristotle (Elias Kacavas), who just happens to be someone Paris briefly dated -- travel to Gus' Greek village for a special reunion. When they arrive, Toula is excited to fulfill her father's final wish: delivering his personal journal to his three childhood best friends. But those men don't live in the village anymore, and the young mayor, Victory (Melina Kotselou), admits that no one besides the Portokalos family has RSVP'd to attend the tiny village's event. While Toula searches for her father's friends, one of the few older residents, Alexandra (Anthi Andreopoulou), reveals her secret connection to Gus.

Is It Any Good?

Despite some sweet moments, this well-intentioned threequel can't recapture the novelty and humor of the 2002 original. This third (and presumably final) chapter in Toula's story doesn't offer anything new other than the reminder that middle-aged couples shouldn't let their sandwich-generation challenges keep them from taking adventures or reconnecting with either their roots or the next generation. But that laudable (if trite) message is buried under lots of obvious punchlines. Vardalos' script recycles lots of the first movie's same cultural jokes, which fall flat two decades later. In addition to the obligatory Windex references, there are constant scenes of Nikos primping, shaving (his ears, his nose, his chin, his nether regions), and preening half-naked, as well as the tired insistence that every word or historical fact is based in the Greek language or history.

The story also includes some heavy themes that aren't handled with enough care (or humor). Mrs. Portokalos ( Lainie Kazan ) is housebound due to mild dementia, and a subplot involving a big secret is received ludicrously well, with no emotional nuance. On the bright side, the cinematography by Barry Peterson includes lovely shots of the Greek Isles' landscapes, markets, and squares. Vardalos' second directorial feature after the 2009 romcom I Hate Valentine's Day (also starring Corbett), My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is a broad family comedy that aims for crowd-pleasing but misses the mark.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about what makes intergenerational comedies like My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 compelling. What makes them special? Why do you think so many of them are about immigrant families?

How does the movie address cultural differences? Do you know families that have blended backgrounds? How does the wedding in the film blend aspects from both the groom's and bride's cultures?

Who, if anyone, do you consider a role model in the story? What character strengths do they demonstrate?

How is drinking portrayed in the movie? Are there realistic consequences? Why does that matter?

Compare this threequel to the first two movies. Do you think the franchise should end with this installment, or are there more Portokalos family stories left to tell?

Movie Details

In theaters : September 8, 2023
On DVD or streaming : October 31, 2023
Cast : Nia Vardalos , John Corbett , Elena Kampouris
Director : Nia Vardalos
Inclusion Information : Female directors, Female actors, Female writers
Studio : Focus Features
Genre : Comedy
Topics : Cooking and Baking , Brothers and Sisters
Run time : 91 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : suggestive material and some nudity
Last updated : May 8, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3’ Review: Nia Vardalos Directs an Unfortunate Affair Filled With Beauty and Blunders

This second sequel to the hit 2002 rom-com spells disaster for a character audiences have grown to care about — and her creator, who assumes total control over a lackluster chapter.

By Courtney Howard

Courtney Howard

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(L to R) Nia Vardalos stars as "Toula" and John Corbett stars as "Ian" in director Nia Vardalos' MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 3, a Focus Features release. Courtesy of Yannis Drakoulidis / Focus Features

Popular on Variety

Still, Toula has one last thing she’s been tasked to do: travel to her father’s rural hometown in Greece, find his three best friends and deliver to them his well-worn journal chronicling his American adventures. A perfect opportunity arises when they receive an invitation for his seaside village’s reunion, put on by its indomitable young mayor Victory (Melina Kotselou). Since the matriarch of the family can’t travel, half of the extended family stays behind to care for her as the others — including Toula, Ian, Paris, Toula’s brother Nick (Louis Mandylor), Aunt Frieda (Maria Vacratsis) and Aunt Voula (Andrea Martin, who remains this franchise’s MVP) –—hop on the overseas flight to discovery. Hijinks ensue, involving the town’s resident sour-faced grump Alexandra (Anthi Andreopoulou) and mustachioed mystery man Peter (Alexis Georgoulis).

Given how comfortable the original ensemble is returning to the characters Vardalos lovingly crafted all those years ago, a hangout movie might have been a better model for this sloppily structured one — giving them room for some poignant meta-context, mourning both their fellow actor and the character he played. As is, it’s a disjointed mashup of half-baked storylines that splinter the cast until the very end when yet another wedding necessitates their group participation. Paris’ primary problem isn’t so much harboring a secret about college, but rather fretting over dating Aunt Voula’s adorable assistant Aristotle (Elias Kacavas). Worse, it’s disheartening to see Toula’s ever-evolving journey towards self-empowerment sidelined in favor of far less interesting characters. What should have been an inspirational capper on a trilogy ends with a shrug of resignation.

In terms of the newer cast, Alexandra and Peter’s motivations for change are murky at best. They’re adamant in their unwavering opinions until, mere minutes later, they’re conveniently not — with nary a hint of internal struggle. None of their eccentricities compares to the hilarious quirks of the immediate family members. Though Syrian immigrant Qamar (Stephanie Nur) and her boyfriend Christos (Giannis Vasilottos) have a marital conundrum that faintly parallels Toula and Ian’s (something they even reference, as if we can’t remember), except we’re not given much reason to care about them. Their story is rushed through, making us question their inclusion if Vardalos wasn’t going to make it count.

Two sequels deep, it’s baffling that the filmmakers involved don’t make room for more interesting conflicts to arise even within the franchise’s breezy, light-hearted brief. With its sprawling family dynamic, colorful cast of characters and rich, universally resonant touchstones, what was set up in the original film had the potential to take on a life of its own. In the decades since its release, the ideas gestated have been poorly nurtured, limiting the story’s growth while testing our patience. There’s simply not enough Windex to fix this franchise.

Reviewed at AMC The Grove 14, Los Angeles, Sept. 6, 2023. Running time: 91 MIN.

Production: A Focus Features, Gold Circle Entertainment presentation in association with Home Box Office of a Playtone Picture, Artistic Films, Gold Circle Entertainment production. Producers: Rita Wilson, Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman. Executive producers: Paul Brooks, Scott Niemeyer, Steven Shareshian, Nia Vardalos.
Crew: Director, screenplay: Nia Vardalos. Camera: Barry Peterson. Editors: Annette Davey, Craig Herring. Music: Stephanie Economou.
With: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Louis Mandylor, Elena Kampouris, Andrea Martin, Maria Vacratsis, Gia Carides, Joey Fatone, Elias Kacavas, Lainie Kazan, Melina Kotselou, Anthi Andreopoulou, Alexis Georgoulis, Giannis Vasilottos, Stephanie Nur.

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‘my big fat greek wedding 3’ review: nia vardalos and john corbett head to the homeland for a (mostly) painless third installment.

The Portokalas clan travel to Greece for this third film in the popular film series.

By Frank Scheck

Frank Scheck

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My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Focus Features

Ever been invited to a family reunion you had no desire to attend? You may be tired of seeing your relatives and listening to their familiar routines, which can be downright annoying at times. But then you force yourself to go and you find that you have a good time after all, at least for a little while.

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‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3’ Review: N’opa!

Nia Vardalos is back in a noisy sequel that cedes the punchlines, and the plotlines, to the more cacophonous members of the Portokalos clan.

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By Amy Nicholson

Nia Vardalos seized the movie industry’s attention two decades ago when she wrote and starred in the loosely autobiographical “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” an indie charmer that remains the highest-grossing romantic comedy of all time.

Audiences rallied behind her relatable Toula Portokalos, a wallflower Chicago waitress who straightened both her hair and her spine despite the protests of her domineering family. As Toula fought to leave her father’s restaurant, forge her own career and marry her non-Greek boyfriend (John Corbett), many moviegoers saw themselves in her hard-won successes.

But so much for empowerment this time around. “It’s a badge of honor to take care of people,” Toula narrates humbly at the top of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3.” This is the first film in the franchise that Vardalos not only performs in and writes, but also directs — although, in truth, she’s barely the star.

This noisy sequel cedes the punchlines and the plotlines to the more cacophonous members of the Portokalos clan, particularly Andrea Martin’s returning scene-stealer, the busybody Aunt Voula. (“I’m not a gossip, I’m a tattletale,” Voula huffs.) While the ensemble bickers and schemes, or, in the case of Toula’s preening brother Nick (Louis Mandylor), publicly shaves himself at inappropriate times, Toula’s laughs come only at her expense. (Hitting her head, falling off a donkey and so forth.) The script functions like a recipe for its own opening shot of baklava; flattened and bland, Toula exists only to constrain the nuts.

The story starts after the passing of Toula’s father, Gus, the patriarch played with grumbling affection by Michael Constantine, who died in 2021. To honor Gus, a grab-bag of family members takes their first-ever trip to Greece to visit his mountainous childhood home, a near-abandoned hamlet near(ish) the beach. Only six people remain in the village, and two of them are secretly dating — the series’s core trope remains a hushed romance.

This and dozens of other tiny conflicts ripple through the movie, resolving themselves with a hug or an absent-minded cutaway before any one problem swells into something worth our concern. The oddest disposable gag comes when Toula blurts her sexual attraction to a mustachioed stranger (Alexis Georgoulis). The man immediately reveals himself to be a relative.

The ancient Greeks wrote tragedy after tragedy warning against hubris. Yet, Vardalos’s flailing crowd-pleaser needs a shot of self-confidence and logic. Why has Toula, a micromanaging former travel guide, flown her relatives overseas without thinking to book a hotel? Why would we believe that her square daughter (Elena Kampouris) is, with zero evidence, a wild child on the edge of sabotaging her life? And why do some of the rural Greeks speak English with a better accent than Aunt Voula? Nothing adds up.

Not that I begrudge Martin a single one of her quips. If Vardalos is no longer comfortable at the center of the franchise, hand the whole thing over to her.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Rated PG-13 for a suggestive scene on a nude beach with strategically placed slices of watermelon. Running time: 1 hour 31 minutes. In theaters.

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John Corbett holding up a smartphone and taking a group shot of himself along with Maria Vacratsis, Melina Kotselou, Nia Vardalos, Elena Kampouris, Andrea Martin and Elias Kacavas

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 review – comedy as reheated moussaka

The third outing of Nia Vardalos’s nuptial franchise has some sweet touches but squanders its best asset in Andrea Martin’s oversharing Aunt Voula

T wo decades after the franchise-inaugurating nuptials of Toula (played by writer-director Nia Vardalos), she’s leading the Greek-American Portokalos clan back to the homeland for the first time. Their mission is to fulfil their pappou’s dying wish (actor Michael Constantine died in 2021) and give his diaries to his childhood friends. That means another sloppy helping of migrant family cliches, served up with the same loving forcefulness as grandma’s moussaka.

This is mostly Greece as seen in the movies, of course, familiar from Mamma Mia! and, before that, Shirley Valentine . It’s a place of postcard-perfect blue-and-white vistas, where hospitality verges on hostage-taking and any suggestion of vegetarianism is vociferously resisted. Surprisingly, there are also some sweet but entirely superficial nods to the nation’s present day, such as a storyline about the integration of Syrian refugees and new character Victory (Melina Kotselou), the non-binary mayor of Toula’s ancestral village.

Despite such modernising, Aunt “You don’t eat no meat?” Voula, played by undersung comedy veteran Andrea Martin ( SCTV , Great News ), remains the greatest asset of this film series. No sooner has the plane touched down in Athens than she’s making new friends and urging them to touch her mole (“Sticks out like a toothpick in an olive!”).

Voula knows she’s all that, but the film doesn’t seem to agree. Too many scenes are wasted on other, uninteresting relatives such as Toula’s carping, college-age daughter, her insipidly Anglo-Saxon husband (a character indistinguishable from John Corbett’s other recently revived role as Sex and the City’s Aidan), or her amateur etymologist brother. He’ll trace the Hellenic origin of any words you mention. “Daft diaspora cash-in”, for instance? That’s Greek.

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‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3’: Thin story, thinner characters

The best thing that can be said about this third installment of the comedy franchise is that it’s not as bad as the second film

You can say this much about “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3”: It’s better than the second one.

Twenty-one years after the breakout success of the 2002 original , and seven years after its widely panned sequel , franchise star and screenwriter Nia Vardalos goes behind the camera for this third installment in the comedy franchise, which takes some of her adorably ethnic fictional relatives out of Chicago for a scenic, harmless romp through the old country.

This time, Vardalos’s Toula Portokalos and her extended family must deal with the death of the family patriarch, played by Michael Constantine. (Constantine appeared in the first two films and died in 2021. Mom, played by Lainie Kazan, isn’t doing so well herself, failing to recognize her own daughter in an early scene.) But never mind. Toula, along with her husband (John Corbett), her brother (Louis Mandylor) and her Aunt Voula (Andrea Martin), among others, are headed to Greece for a family reunion. The trip also gives Toula the chance to fulfill one of her father’s last wishes: to present his childhood diary to a long-lost old friend.

Forget that the pages of this supposedly decades-old journal look as fresh as something plucked off the stationery shelf at Target. Time is fluid in this cinematic world, and the series chronology follows suit: At the end of movie No. 2, Toula’s daughter (Elena Kampouris) was off to college. But here — apparently seven years later — she confesses that she’s just flunked out of her freshman year. Time has taken its toll on the faces of nearly every other character.

Continuity quibbles aside, the threadbare narrative essentially turns into a “Roots”-y travelogue. Toula and company land in their ancestral village to be met by the enthusiastic guide (Melina Kotselou) who has organized the reunion festivities. Of course, there’s a catch: When the six members of the Portokalos family arrive, expecting a huge gathering, they discover that they’re the only relatives who have shown up.

There are other twists, including long-lost family members, wild goose chases and a pair of young lovers who provide the eponymous third wedding. In contrast to the sprawling threads that sent the second film off on detours that didn’t pay off, this time it’s the entire thin plot that doesn’t pay off.

For a 91-minute movie, the Portokalos clan certainly spends an awful lot of time in transit. Recurring shots of the same winding road soon start to resemble the work of David DeCoteau, a filmmaker who built a cottage industry of straight-to-video films based in part on heavily padded, threadbare plots filled with footage of winding roads so repetitive it becomes surreal.

And yet there are themes here (and throughout the Greek Wedding films) that should resonate with anyone from an immigrant family — anyone from a family, period: culture clashes, the difficulty of assimilation, tension between tradition and modernity. But the situations are so cliché, the conflicts so glossed over, that the connection gets lost. It’s not for nothing that there’s a recurring gag about Windex.

If the 2002 film addressed these issues in the form of a cute extended sitcom, its sequel raised the characters’ cartoonishness to cringeworthy levels. In a scene from the 2016 film, Toula yells at her neighbors for making fun of her family, no doubt prompting more than this reviewer to want to shout: “But you’ve spent the whole movie depicting your family as obnoxious buffoons!”

Thankfully, such buffoonery is toned down here. But we’re still left with cute but thinly drawn characters with little personality beyond signature quirks, like the penchant of Toula’s brother for grooming himself at the dinner table. At least he’s a recurring figure; the new young lovers introduced in this film have little to distinguish them, other than their amorousness and their non-Greek heritage. (The young woman is a Syrian refugee: an attempt at timeliness that feels tacked on.)

Even Martin, whose character provided some of the most pleasurable moments in the other films, isn’t given much to do. One longs for another lurid tale from her of the parasitic twin she mentions — so unforgettably — in the first film. Why not give that lost twin their own plot and a wedding in the next sequel? The mind reels. On a more serious note, a parasitic twin is a brilliant if gruesome metaphor for unmet potential: the thoughtful work of art about the immigrant experience lurking inside a fluffy piece of undercooked entertainment.

For all its faults, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3” manages to just get by on pretty scenery and a meticulous inoffensiveness. What else is there to say but, “Opa!”

PG-13. At area theaters. Contains suggestive material, some nudity and extended broad stereotypes. 91 minutes.

Review: ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3’ has gorgeous locations, but this flaming cheese has cooled

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Last summer, Nia Vardalos took a lot of people to the island of Corfu, snapshots and video from which have been haphazardly assembled into 90 minutes you can pay to see called “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3.” It’s no vacation.

One needn’t begrudge star-screenwriter-director Vardalos for celebrating her sleeper megahit (2002’s “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” ) by pushing the party past its enjoy-by date. Who can blame her for wanting to finally ship the overworked ethnic-family jokes, tired cultural references and forced zaniness from the Chicago suburbs to the picturesque homeland of the title? Especially after the “Mamma Mia!” movies have already taken advantage of that Mediterranean beauty — and those characters aren’t even Greek! And ABBA is Swedish! (And the “Mamma Mia!” sequel shot in Croatia, not Greece!)

Still, those “Mamma Mia!” bicker-and-swoon musicals are carefully crafted confections next to the soggy baklava that is “Greek Wedding 3,” in which the honey from the original film’s mixture has fermented, and the dough no longer adheres to any recognizable shape. The glossy, inert staleness of the first sequel in 2016 was already proof that the judgmental and clingy Portokalos clan were only sitcom cliches to begin with. This one, though, is a shrine to laziness.

The first noticeable absence is the late, great Michael Constantine, his character represented by a deceased immigrant patriarch’s final wish: that daughter Toula (Vardalos) take his journal back to his home village and share it with three childhood friends. Tagging along for the ride are Toula’s husband Ian (the vintage blandness of John Corbett ), college-age daughter Paris (returning Elena Kampouris), brash brother Nick (Louis Mandylor once more), along with Nick and Toula’s aunts Frieda (Maria Vacratsis) and Voula ( Andrea Martin again, thank God). Cousins Nikki (Gia Carides) and Angelo (Joey Fatone) show up later, no different than before.

The irrepressible Lainie Kazan is back, too, as Toula’s widowed mom, Maria, but not for the trip: The character, relegated to two homebound scenes, has been given memory loss. Her descendants lament it. You may wish for it.

The gang reaches their island destination — attractively photographed by Barry Peterson — in a rickety truck driven by enthusiastic village mayor Victory (Melina Kotselou), who regrettably symbolizes Vardalos’ approach to characters: Tag them (nonbinary), hint at a personality (eccentric), then give the actor nothing else to play besides some lame running gag about how they take selfies. Even more baffling, Gus’ childhood buds — i.e., the whole reason for the trip — are relegated to non-speaking extras at the end, while the titular nuptials this time are for a handsome young Greek local and a beautiful Syrian refugee who have a total of a dozen lines between them. There’s also nothing more to be said about Toula’s and Ian’s marriage, it seems, while Paris is saddled with a potential beau (Elias Kacavas) as dull as her dad. It’s a rom-com both com-less and rom-less.

You’d think the Portokaloses running into papa’s old squeeze (who’s now — what else? — cantankerous) and meeting a never-known half-brother of Toula’s (Alexis Georgoulis) would make for a rich vein of knotty intra-family humor. Instead, it’s cultural window dressing while Vardalos crams in one more dull joke about Nick’s manscaping, Greek voodoo or Voula’s sauciness.

As a filmmaker, Vardalos doesn’t sculpt or edit. She interrupts and repeats. And if the framing cuts off an actor’s head, or people change their minds with no reasoning, or a character needs to be here when they were just there, maybe you won’t notice as long as there’s a sheep or a scenic backdrop or a Greek meal in the works. Family cohesion is supposedly this installment’s big message. But what it says about basic movie cohesion — and sequel tourism’s routine carelessness — is infinitely louder.

'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3'

Rating: PG-13, for suggestive material and some nudity Running time: 1 hour, 32 minutes Playing: In wide release

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My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (2023)

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Review: 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3' falls flat but hits an emotional note

Haven't we seen all this before?

This image released by Focus Features shows Nia Vardalos, left, and John Corbett in a scene from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3."

Haven't we seen all this before? Of course we have, in the first two movie love letters that Nia Vardalos created in honor of her family. Now in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3," only in theaters, Vardalos is still laughing, crying and fussing about her boisterous Greek relatives.

Before digging into the problems plaguing this third family celebration from Vardalos, now the director as well as writer and star of her franchise, let's play a little catchup.

The first movie in 2002 was a big fat Greek hit, taking in $368 million against a $5 million budget to become the highest-grossing romcom of all time. Not bad for a movie that Vardalos based on her little-seen one-woman show about defying her parents and marrying a non-Greek Adonis.

PHOTO: This image released by Focus Features shows Gia Carides, left, and Joey Fatone in a scene from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3."

Rita Wilson, also Greek, saw the show and with her husband, Tom Hanks, produced the film version with Vardalos in the lead. Nice story, huh, with Vardalos starring as drab Toula Portokalos, stuck working at Dancing Zorba's, the Chicago restaurant owned by her parents Gus (Michael Constantine) and Maria (Lainie Kazan).

After a makeover, Toula falls for and marries waspy school teacher Ian Miller (John Corbett, Aidan on "Sex and the City" and "And Just Like That..."). Cue the happy ending and an Oscar nomination for Vardalos for best original screenplay. Opa!.

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It took 14 years to cobble together a 2016 sequel that couldn't match the charm that snuck up on us back then. What once bubbled up from a sincere love of Greek family ties had congealed into the all-too-familiar Hollywood tale of milking a cash cow until it cries for mercy.

Now, seven years later, we get "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3," in which the whole Portokalos clan gathers in Athens to memorialize a death in the family. It's the passing of daddy Gus, whose final wish was that everyone visit his Greek birthplace, reconnect with his old friends by showing them his journals and discover their family roots.

PHOTO: This image released by Focus Features shows Nia Vardalos, left, and John Corbett in a scene from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3."

In a sad coincidence, Michael Constantine, who played Gus, died in 2021 a year after the passing of Vardalos's own father on whom she had based the character.

That makes "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3" the most personal film yet for Vardalos, who commendably allows grief to play a major part, even in the comic doings of her immigrant characters that recycle every joke in the crazy family playbook.

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For romance, the focus shifts to Tula and Ian's daughter Paris (a terrific Elena Kamporis), who may or may not have a wedding in her near future. Could the groom be Aristotle (Elias Kacavas), the date she "ghosted," according to busybody Aunt Voula? Returning as Voula, Andrea Martin remains the best friend a comic line ever had, even one that's aged way past its sell-by date.

The rest of the cast keep pushing the same brand of ethnic humor. And I mean, really pushing, another reason this followup falls so painfully flat. Audience good will -- that's the secret sauce for "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3," even as its game cast and gorgeous locations in Athens and Corfu can't disguise that it's repurposing what came before with diminishing returns.

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DVD & Streaming

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3

Comedy , Drama , Romance

Content Caution

In Theaters

September 8, 2023
Nia Vardalos as Toula Miller; John Corbett as Ian Miller; Elena Kampouris as Paris Miller; Elias Kacavas as Aristotle; Andrea Martin as Theia Voula; Melina Kotselou as Victory; Louis Mandylor as Nick Portokalos; Lainie Kazan as Maria Portokalos; Stephanie Nur as Qamar; Maria Vacratsis as Thiea Freida; Gia Carides as Nikki Portokalos; Joey Fatone as Angelo

Home Release Date

September 26, 2023
Nia Vardalos

Distributor

Focus Features

Movie Review

For the Portokaloses, family is everything. Even when important members are no longer with us.

You see, Toula’s father, Gus, has passed away. And his last wish was that the family return to his childhood village, Vrisi, in Greece, to reconnect with their roots. The family has also received an invitation from the area to return for a town reunion. That’s great news for Toula, since she’d really like to pass along her late father’s journal of memories to his childhood friends.

But when they finally arrive in Vrisi, well … there’s not much reuniting going on. The town’s population? A total of six. The town’s mayor? It’s a young woman named Victory, who was elected via a single vote and turns out to be a distant cousin.

Victory sent out the invitations in the hope of repopulating Vrisi. She thinks that when people will return to the village, they’ll realize how lovely it is and stay. But the Portokaloses were the only ones who came.

Is that a speedbump on Toula’s journey to give away the journal? Sure. But the nice thing about big fat Greek families is that they’ll help you over that speedbump—some ouzo required.

Positive Elements

Despite the distance and the difficulty of the request, Toula honors her father’s wishes and heads to Greece with her family. And while she and her family are there, they do connect with their culture. Likewise, many of Gus’ children reflect on their father’s childhood, coming to a deeper love of him through visiting where Gus once lived.

But none of them can deny the feeling that despite how close the family is, they’ve all felt a bit scattered ever since Gus died. Likewise, Gus’ wife, Maria, is slowly developing dementia. And that hard circumstance leaves family members wondering how they should deal with that new reality.

This franchise has always emphasized the importance of family, and this third movie asserts that family doesn’t end just because a loved one has passed on. In fact, Gus’ final wish brings the family closer together. Reflecting on the man’s life brings Toula and others a lot of joy as they consider his life and legacy—and the children take a moment to mourn Gus before celebrating the impact he had on them. In that way, it additionally feels like a very fitting farewell to Michael Constantine, the late actor who played Gus.

Spiritual Elements

A couple of Toula’s sisters believe in Greek voodoo, and they try to convince Toula’s daughter, Paris, of its benefits despite her lack of belief. They attempt to give her an “evil eye” to protect her, and they put other voodoo-based items under her pillow in the belief that those trinkets will help Paris discover for whom her heart longs.

The family spreads Gus’ ashes, which are kept in an urn with a cross on it. Someone makes friends with a monk. Victory toasts to “living your truth.”

Sexual Content

Victory, we learn, identifies as nonbinary. When Toula’s sister, Voula, asks if Victory likes to wear boys or girls clothes, Victory responds “Both. And neither.” And later, when a wedding separates dancing men into one line and dancing women into another, Victory dances on both sides. We also hear a reference to a gay relationship, and we see a pride flag in the background of a scene. Voula explains to Victory that her daughter has divorced twice, and her son is gay, so she understands “alternative lifestyles.”

Some members of the family go to a nude beach, where background characters’ critical bits are angled away from the camera or obscured strategically by various items. Regardless, we do see a few peoples’ bare rears from the side. Paris strips down as she gets into the water, and her uncle Nick stands on the beach holding a small bottle of wine to cover himself. We also see Nick disrobe, and his critical anatomy is covered by a nearby plant.

A couple of characters frequently wear a cooking apron that depicts the breasts of the nude sculpture Venus de Milo . Nick frequently shaves; at one point, we’re told that he’s shaving his pubic hair in public.

A woman commands a young man and woman eat, saying that the reason the man’s rear and the woman’s breasts are small is because they don’t eat enough (all while she grabs the aforementioned body parts of the two). She says that a spouse needs “love handles” to hold on to. After Toula and her husband, Ian, kiss, someone says that they should “have sex on Easter like everyone else.”

Paris and her romantic interest Aristotle were supposed to go on a date, but Paris ghosts him, causing Voula to tell the two to “make up and make out.” Someone references frequently making out when she was in college. Paris and Aristotle passionately kiss, causing Paris’ aunt to say, “No babies until you graduate from college.”

Nick showers, though nothing is seen. Men and women are seen in swimsuits, and other men are seen shirtless, too. Various women wear outfits that reveal cleavage.

Violent Content

Crude or profane language.

“H—” is used once. God’s name is used in vain three times. Jesus’ name is inappropriately used three times.

Drug and Alcohol Content

Many characters drink alcohol throughout the film. Toula and Voula are given many drinks by friendly merchants, and they both come back to Vrisi intoxicated. We later see Toula grappling with her hangover. Likewise, Paris and Aristotle drink at a nightclub, and Aristotle is later seen hungover. Someone asks to go into town to drink.

Other Negative Elements

We hear a reference to using Greek yogurt for an enema. Aristotle belches.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 may not be as focused on weddings as its predecessors (though, yes, a wedding does still take place), but it still has a whole lot to say about the importance of family.

The first film told us that family isn’t dependent on your background. The second one reminded us of the importance of marriage and commitment to clan. And My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 tells us that family doesn’t end just because someone has died.

The film pays homage to family patriarch Gus, as well as Michael Constantine, the late actor who portrayed him. Many scenes illustrate the positive impact that Gus had on the extended family. Other scenes subtly remind us of his role in fathering and grandfathering the other characters.

I wish that I could end this review there. But unfortunately, the third installment of the series also comes with a big fat jump in sexual content, too. To that end, viewers hear a lot of crude remarks, endure a visit to a nude beach (where characters are covered only by clever camerawork) and meet a character who identifies as nonbinary.

That disappointing sexual content undermines what otherwise is a pretty sweet movie. And for many families, it may just be more content than you want to navigate.

Kennedy Unthank

Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”

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‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3’ Offers More Family Chaos, but Doesn’t Marry Together

Nia Vardalos steps up to direct (as well as writing and starring as usual) in this third outing for the family franchise which, sadly, feels tired and nearly laugh-free.

Nia Vardalos stars as "Toula" in writer/director Nia Vardalos' 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,' a Focus Features release. Courtesy of Yannis Drakoulidis / Focus Features.

In theaters now, ‘ My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 ’ is like the local Greek fast-food chain –– it offers up a similar menu of chaotic, squabbling family members, some emotional moments and jokes about culture clashes, which will appeal to fans of the first two.

Whether it’ll be able to replicate the huge success of the first (the sequel, while it made money, certainly wasn’t) is a bigger question. Will audiences feel a little overstuffed at the thought of more time spent with Toula ( Nia Vardalos ) and her clan?

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3

What’s the story of ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3’?

Nia Vardalos stars as Toula and John Corbett stars as Ian in director Nia Vardalos' 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,' a Focus Features release. Courtesy of Yannis Drakoulidis / Focus Features.

(L to R) Nia Vardalos stars as Toula and John Corbett stars as Ian in director Nia Vardalos' 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,' a Focus Features release. Courtesy of Yannis Drakoulidis / Focus Features.

The Portokalos family has been sent an invitation to participate in a reunion for all the families who have moved away from the village their father came from. It was sent to them by Victory (Melina Kotselou), the extremely passionate town mayor.

Before he passed away, Toula’s father, Gus, asked her to go to the reunion and meet his old friends to pass on a journal he had kept of his life story. To honor his memory, the Portokalos family wants to see where their dad grew up.

Who else is in ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3’?

Andrea Martin stars as "Aunt Voula" and Maria Vacratsis stars as "Aunt Frieda" in writer/director Nia Vardalos' 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,' a Focus Features release.

(L to R) Andrea Martin stars as "Aunt Voula" and Maria Vacratsis stars as "Aunt Frieda" in writer/director Nia Vardalos' 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,' a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features.

Much of the cast of the first two movies returns, including John Corbett as Toula’s husband, Ian; Elena Kampouris as their daughter, Paris; Louis Mandylor as Toula’s brother, Nick; Lainie Kazan as Maria, Toula and Nick’s mother; Andrea Martin as Maria’s sister, Aunt Voula; Maria Vacratsis as Aunt Frieda; and Gia Carides and Joey Fatone as cousins Nikki and Angelo.

New this time are Elias Kacavas as Paris’ ex, Aristotle, and Stephanie Nur as Qamar.

Are there reasons to celebrate?

(L to R) Nia Vardalos stars as "Toula" and John Corbett stars as "Ian" in writer/director Nia Vardalos' 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,' a Focus Features release. Courtesy of Yannis Drakoulidis / Focus Features.

If you’ve ever wanted to visit Greece or needed an excuse to look at some beautiful countryside, the movie at least has you covered on that front. Sprawling hillsides with small villages and sparkling blue seas make some shots look like the Greek Tourist Board coughed up some cash to help get the movie made.

On the acting front, it’s just another reason to say thank goodness for Andrea Martin, who as Aunt Voula never found a gag she couldn’t make work. She’s the sole reason for the movie containing any genuine chuckles at all, and while the character is used sparingly, it’s better whenever she’s around, bringing lines to life. Corbett, meanwhile, though he’s just as stuck in the repetitive plot patterns, at least has easygoing charm on his side.

Gia Carides stars as "Nikki" and Joey Fatone stars as "Angelo" in writer/director Nia Vardalos' 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,' a Focus Features release.

(L to R) Gia Carides stars as "Nikki" and Joey Fatone stars as "Angelo" in writer/director Nia Vardalos' 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,' a Focus Features release. Courtesy of Yannis Drakoulidis / Focus Features.

Otherwise, the returning veterans and the new faces mostly just go through the motions, spouting lines that almost become catchphrases.

Vardalos has tried extending the ‘Greek Wedding’ format before, and the result was TV spin-off ‘My Big Fat Greek Life’, which aired for all of seven episodes. Perhaps that should have been a warning that there’s only so much “life” in these family stories.

One or two sweet moments and the few jokes that actually land are not enough for us to recommend saying “I do” to this one. Watch the first one again instead with a poster of Greece on the wall.

‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3’ receives 5 out of 10 stars.

John Corbett as Ian, Maria Vacratsis as Aunt Frieda, Melina Kotselou as Victory, Nia Vardalos as Toula, Elena Kampouris as Paris, Andrea Martin as Aunt Voula, and Elias Kacavas as Aristotle in director Nia Vardalos' 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,' a Focus Features release. Courtesy of Yannis Drakoulidis / Focus Features.

(L to R) John Corbett as Ian, Maria Vacratsis as Aunt Frieda, Melina Kotselou as Victory, Nia Vardalos as Toula, Elena Kampouris as Paris, Andrea Martin as Aunt Voula, and Elias Kacavas as Aristotle in director Nia Vardalos' 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,' a Focus Features release. Courtesy of Yannis Drakoulidis / Focus Features.

Other Movies Similar to ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3’:’

' Father of the Bride ' (1991)
' Father of the Bride Part II ' (1995)
' My Best Friend's Wedding ' (1997)
' The Wedding Planner ' (2001)
' My Big Fat Greek Wedding ' (2002)
' American Wedding ' (2003)
' Wedding Crashers ' (2005)
' 27 Dresses ' (2008)
' Mamma Mia! ' (2008)
' Bride Wars ' (2009)
' Bridesmaids ' (2011)
‘ My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 ' (2016)
' Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again ' (2018)
' Father of the Bride ' (2022)

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‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3’ is produced by Gold Circle Films, and Playtone. It is set to release in theaters on September 8th, 2023.

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‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3’ review: More Greece, less wedding, no charm

Movie review.

There are, perhaps, worse ways to spend 91 minutes than eating popcorn and watching people smile at each other while on vacation in Greece. I have, perhaps, had a worse 91 minutes this week alone. But that doesn’t quite count as a recommendation for “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,” in which a lot of cheery related people travel to Greece and … well, that’s basically it. At least in “ Mamma Mia 2 ,” Cher showed up.

Nia Vardalos made movie history with the original “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” playing a version of herself in a story of a Greek American woman named Toula Portokalos who fell in love with a non-Greek man named Ian Miller (John Corbett). Filmed on a mere $5 million budget, it made $241 million and became the highest grossing romantic comedy of all time . So you can’t quite blame her for returning to the well, first for “ My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 ” in 2016 (a movie so uncannily like the first one you’d swear it was the first one, or at least constructed from outtakes), and now this, in which the extended Portokalos clan heads overseas for a family reunion that doesn’t appear to be well thought out.

That descriptor applies to this movie — scripted and directed by Vardalos this time — as well. Very little of “MBFGW3” makes any sense, from the details of the trip (why are they all sitting around the town square with their luggage? Did nobody think to book a place to stay?) to the tacked-on wedding at the end, presumably as a contractual obligation. Toula and Ian are sweet and bland; their relatives are predictably wisecracky, and the whole thing just feels like watching someone’s extremely well-produced vacation video, in which people say things like “We are now going to dance a traditional Greek dance” and goats randomly appear. And there’s a strong hint at the end regarding the possible existence of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 4,” but let’s hope the likable Vardalos has made enough money by now and can let the franchise dance off into a picturesque Greek sunset.

(A side note, only for conspiracy theorists like myself who have also been watching “And Just Like That”: Is it possible that Aidan, played by Corbett on the “Sex and the City” spinoff, is taking his much-maligned five-year break from Carrie Bradshaw in order to devote himself to his secret double life in a boisterous Greek family? Is that why Ian Miller is so aggressively personality-free? Think about it.)

With Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Elena Kampouris, Louis Mandylor, Lainie Kazan, Andrea Martin. Written and directed by Vardalos. 91 minutes. Rated PG-13 for suggestive material and some nudity. Opens Sept. 7 at multiple theaters.

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‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3’ Review: Nia Vardalos Finally Exhausts the 20-Year Franchise

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Back in 2002, “ My Big Fat Greek Wedding ” introduced mainstream audiences to all the heartwarming moments, overbearing relatives, and downright craziness of coming from a large Greek-American family. Somehow, Nia Vardalos ‘ breakout rom-com spurred a two-decade-long trilogy; sadly, the third installment relies too heavily on its stunning Corfu scenery instead of an actual plot.

Vardalos is back as Toula Portakolos, the new head of the family after her father Gus (Michael Constantine, who died in 2021) passed away and her mother (Lainie Kazan) now suffers from dementia. Toula is determined to carry out her dad’s last wish of bringing his old journal to his childhood friends, whom he left in their small Greek town when he came to America.

Toula’s husband Ian ( John Corbett ) and college student daughter Paris (Elena Kampouris) join her on the emotional journey to Greece. As first-generation Americans, Toula and her brother Nick (Louis Mandylor) have never visited the country her parents immigrated from. Fan favorite Aunt Voula (Andrea Martin) and Theia Freida (surprising scene-stealer Maria Vacratsis) also opt for a Greek vacay to support Toula and represent her mother, who cannot travel internationally.

Turns out, Gus’ ex Alexandra (a delightfully grumpy Anthi Andreopoulou) welcomed a son together that Gus never knew about, and Toula grapples with her father’s changing legacy. Nick also smuggled in Gus’ ashes — which, for the record, raised some Greek Orthodox eyebrows, as cremation is frowned upon in the religion — and Toula, Peter, and Nick return Gus to his true home.

“My Big Fat Greek Wedding” was a family favorite for this Greek American, a film that yiayias and pappous could relate to with inside jokes that only Greeks really get. Sadly, the third film does away with the first movie’s charm and leans further into the sequel’s tackiness.

The true gems of the whole franchise remain Toula’s cousins Angelo (Fatone) and Nikki (Gia Carides), who literally save the day and deliver the most laughs, sometimes without even uttering a word. Where is their spinoff? Without getting into too much detail about *NSYNC alum Fatone and the iconic Carides in the third film, their vacation is the only one worth having (and watching onscreen).

Any Angelo and Nikki standalone film would have been a better use of the budget, funded in part by producers Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, than this third film that has a tacked-on wedding involving a Syrian refugee (Stefanie Nur Buddenbrook) and Peter’s son, who is technically Toula’s nephew.

The film has tonally far-too-light nods to the refugee crisis in Greece and the backlash to Ukrainian and Syrian refugees in the country, as well as Toula and her siblings struggling through grief after losing their father, culturally the patriarch of any Greek family. Vardalos decides not to go there , and it does a great disservice to what could have been a fun yet emotionally resonant film.

“My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3” premieres in theaters September 8 from Focus Features.

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My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Review: A Halfhearted Reunion

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 arrives in theaters with high expectations, thanks to the success of its predecessors. Directed once again by Nia Vardalos, the film follows the Portokalos family on a journey to Greece for a family reunion, commemorating the late Gus Portokalos, who was a beloved character portrayed by Michael Constantine . Unfortunately, this installment falls short of the charm and humor that made the first film a cult classic. While the ensemble cast, including Nia Vardalos , John Corbett , Louis Mandylor , Elena Kampouris , and Lainie Kazan , does their best, the movie struggles to capture the magic of the original.

The absence of Michael Constantine, who passed away in 2021, is palpable throughout the film. His character, Gus, was a cornerstone of the franchise, providing much of its comedic brilliance and heartfelt moments. Without him, the film faces the daunting task of filling the void left by his absence, and unfortunately, it doesn’t quite succeed.

One of the film’s major issues is its lackluster screenplay. While the original My Big Fat Greek Wedding was celebrated for its witty and endearing script, the third installment feels like a pale imitation. The humor often falls flat, relying too heavily on recycled jokes from the previous films. It seems like the writers were banking on nostalgia to carry the film rather than crafting a fresh and engaging story.

The plot revolves around the Portokalos family’s trip to Greece for a family reunion following Gus’s passing. The film attempts to blend comedy, drama, and family dynamics, but the execution is uneven. There are moments of genuine emotion, particularly when the characters reflect on their memories of Gus, but these are often overshadowed by forced humor and contrived conflicts.

The pacing of the film is uneven, with a slow and meandering first half that struggles to hold the audience’s interest. It’s only in the latter half that the story gains some momentum, but by then, it feels too little, too late. The movie’s runtime could have been trimmed to make it more concise and engaging.

Nia Vardalos reprises her role as Fotoula “Toula” Portokalos, and she remains as endearing as ever. Her character’s neurotic yet lovable personality is a highlight of the film. John Corbett returns as Ian Miller, Toula’s husband, and their chemistry is still present, although the script doesn’t give them as much to work with. Louis Mandylor as Nick Portokalos and Lainie Kazan as Maria Portokalos also make a return, but their characters are underutilized, contributing little to the overall plot.

Elena Kampouris takes on a more prominent role as Paris Miller, the daughter of Toula and Ian. She struggles with her identity as a Greek-American teenager, but her character arc feels rushed and lacks depth. Kampouris delivers a decent performance, but the material she’s given doesn’t allow her to shine.

Visually, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 shines with its picturesque Greek backdrop. The film captures the beauty of Greece’s landscapes and architecture, making it a feast for the eyes. However, the stunning scenery can only do so much to compensate for the film’s shortcomings.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 falls short of living up to the legacy of its predecessors. While it’s heartwarming to see the beloved characters back on screen, the absence of Michael Constantine’s Gus is deeply felt, and the film struggles to capture the magic of the original. The screenplay lacks the wit and charm that made the first film a classic, relying too heavily on recycled humor and tired stereotypes. The performances, especially by Nia Vardalos, are commendable, but they can’t fully compensate for the film’s shortcomings. Ultimately, this third installment feels like a missed opportunity to revisit a beloved family and their eccentric traditions with the same freshness and humor that endeared them to audiences in the first place.

Acting - 7/10 7/10
Cinematography/Visual Effects - 7/10 7/10
Plot/Screenplay - 4/10 4/10
Setting/Theme - 6/10 6/10
Watchability - 5/10 5/10
Rewatchability - 3/10 3/10

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About Caillou Pettis

Caillou Pettis is a professional film critic and journalist as well as the author of While You Sleep, The Inspiring World of Horror: The Movies That Influenced Generations, and co-author of Out of Time: True Paranormal Encounters. He has been writing in the entertainment industry for over seven and a half years professionally. Throughout the years, he has written articles for publications including Gold Derby, Exclaim!, CBR, Awards Radar, Awards Watch, Flickering Myth, BRWC, Starburst Magazine, Punch Drunk Critics, Mediaversity Reviews, Vinyl Chapters, Northern Transmissions, and Beats Per Minute.

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My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 parents guide

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Parent Guide

Instead of being funny and warmhearted, this vapid movie is simply emptyheaded..

Theaters: The Portokalos family gather in Greece for a once in a lifetime reunion - and unexpectedly learn more about each other and their father's legacy.

Release date September 8, 2023

Run Time: 91 minutes

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The guide to our grades, parent movie review by kirsten hawkes.

Time has not been kind to the Portokalos family. Family patriarch Gus has died and his widow, Maria (Lainie Kazan), is struggling with dementia. Daughter Toula (Nia Vardalos) is burdened by a promise she made to her father that she would return to his home village in Greece and give his hand-written journal to his three childhood friends. Gus’s hometown is planning a reunion, so Toula and a gaggle of her relatives board a plane and fly off to the sun-drenched lands of the Aegean Sea.

Arriving in Athens, the Portokalos clan are met by an oddly young mayor (Melina Kotselou) and endure a ride in rickety truck to a strangely empty town. Then they learn the truth – the town is almost completely depopulated and the reunion is a stunt planned by the mayor to lure ex-residents back for a nostalgic visit. The few remaining villagers don’t know Gus’s old friends and Toula is distraught that she won’t be able to fulfil her father’s last wish. Luckily for her, her family members are resourceful…

There’s so much wrong with this movie that I’ll have to make an effort to focus on the main problems instead of nitpicking at every little awful detail. First, the plot doesn’t know where it’s going, and it doesn’t make sense. Why on earth would Gus give his journal to people he hasn’t seen for a half century instead of to his kids? Why aren’t Toula or any of her relatives smart enough to book rental cars or hotels before they arrive? Haven’t they heard of the internet? Why does Aunt Voula (Andreas Martin) hire Aristotle (Elias Kacavas) to “help” her with the journey when he apparently does nothing and the trip is an unplanned disaster? Is she really that desperate to play matchmaker with her niece? Second, using dementia as comic fodder isn’t funny. As anyone who has lost a relative to dementia can testify, it’s agonizingly painful to watch them lose their memories, their capacity, and their spark one piece at a time. When Maria can’t recognize Toula, that’s not a gag; it’s a tragedy.

In terms of negative content, there’s plenty of alcohol consumption and a smattering of terms of deity, but the real surprise is the nudity. The most unexpected scene takes place at a nude beach where only carefully placed objects keep the movie in the PG-13 zone. To be honest, what really grossed me out in this flick was Nick’s habit of grooming himself at the breakfast table – shaving, trimming ear hairs, and cutting his nails while his relatives are eating. It’s as icky as it sounds. Another unwelcome surprise is the creepiness of Nikki (Gia Carides), Toula’s bra-jiggling cousin. Two decades haven’t changed her attitude, but her make-up is so alarmingly overdone that she looks like a movie villain, some terrifying zombie seeking brains. She won’t find any in this film, but if she’s looking for more of the undead, there’s an entire cast of characters who certainly don’t feel alive.

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Kirsten hawkes, watch the trailer for my big fat greek wedding 3.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Rating & Content Info

Why is My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 rated PG-13? My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for suggestive material and some nudity.

Violence: None noted. Sexual Content: Men and women kiss passionately on several occasions. There are frequent scenes of nudity, in a dressing context or on a nude beach. Carefully placed objects obscure breasts or genitals. A person wears an apron that is printed with a statue of a nude woman’s torso, including breast detail. An elderly woman grabs a young woman’s breasts and the backsides of other characters in the context of discussing their weight. There’s mention of unwed pregnancy and an illegitimate child. Profanity: There are a handful of terms of deity in the script. Alcohol / Drug Use: Characters drink alcohol frequently in social situations. A main character drinks alcohol straight from the bottle on an airplane. Main characters are seen drunk; one is unconscious and is presumably drunk.

Page last updated September 13, 2023

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Parents' Guide

The Portokalos family is struggling to adjust Gus’s death. What roles did he and Maria play for their children? How do their adult children finally adjust to the changes in roles?

What impact does Peter have on the Portokalos family? How do they react to him? What does that tell you about their family values? How do those family values influence the way he treats his own son and his son’s girlfriend?

It's a Big Fat Family Reunion in the First 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3' Trailer

The entire Portokalos family is headed to Greece!

The Portokalos family is back, and this time they're heading to Greece! Just in time for the start of wedding season, Focus Features has revealed the first trailer for My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 , the third installment in the family-focused romantic comedy film series from Nia Vardalos . Though the film won't hit theaters until September , the sun-dappled trailer offers a hint at what we can expect when the loving (and loud) family heads to Europe.

The trailer the return of nearly the entire original cast, including Vardalos as Toula, John Corbett as her husband Ian, and Elena Kampouris as their daughter Paris. Also along for the fun — as if they would ever let anyone leave them behind — are Louis Mandylor, Lainie Kazan, Andrea Martin and Gerry Mendicino as Toula's brother Nick and mom Maria, her Theia Voula and Uncle Taki respectively. Noticeably absent is Michael Constantine , who played Toula's father Gus, and who passed away in 2021. While he may not be present in the film, his spirit is still felt, as the story follows the Portokalos family headed to Greece to fulfill Gus's last wish.

His last wish, it turns out, was for his family to visit his childhood village — so it's family reunion time! But it's not a Portokalos family event without just a little chaos, including Voula trying to feed everyone whether they want to be fed or not, and of course, everyone meddling in Paris's love life. Meanwhile, Toula is on a mission to track down her dad's childhood best friends, recruiting Nikki ( Gia Carides ) and Angleo ( Joey Fatone ) to help her.

RELATED: Cast, Release Date, and Everything Else We Know About 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3'

The Legacy of My Big Fat Greek Wedding

The first My Big Fat Greek Wedding became a surprise smash hit when it was released in 2002. Though it only ever received a limited theatrical release, the film went on to earn nearly $369 million worldwide on a $5 million budget. Based on Vardalos ' one-woman show of the same name, the film would go on to earn her an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

The first film followed 30-year-old Toula as she works to build a life for herself beyond the endless cycle of working in the family restaurant and ignoring questions about when she is going to settle down with a nice Greek boy. The film shows her meeting and falling in love with the decidedly non-Greek Ian, and the challenges the pair face as they decide to get married. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 , set 16 years after the first, features Toula's parents discovering they were never legally married back in Greece, and deciding to have a new — legal — wedding all these years later, while also following Toula and Ian's struggles as parents to a teenage daughter.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding was filmed on location in Athens and Corfu in the summer of 2022, with Vardalos pulling triple duty as star, screenwriter and now director. As with the first two, the film is produced by Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson , as well as Gary Goetzman, Paul Brooks, Scott Neimeyer, and Steven Shareshian.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 hits theaters on September 8. Check out the new trailer below:

IMAGES

My Big Fat Greek Wedding
‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3’: Who’s Returning & Everything We Know So
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3: The official poster has been released
Official poster dropped for My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3
/Film
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3

COMMENTS

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 movie review (2023)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3. The original 2002 "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is one of the most financially successful movies ever made, in terms of cost-to-return, earning over $360 million worldwide on a $5 million production budget. Of course, there would be sequels; the only mystery is why there haven't been five or ten by now, rather than just ...
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3
Sep 15, 2023 Full Review Emma Oxnevad Chicago Reader In spite of its third-film shortcomings, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 has some genuine laughs and a healthy dose of heart.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3
As much presence and charisma as an olive oil commercial. Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 15, 2023. Emma Oxnevad Chicago Reader. TOP CRITIC. In spite of its third-film shortcomings, My Big ...
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Movie Review
On the bright side, the cinematography by Barry Peterson includes lovely shots of the Greek Isles' landscapes, markets, and squares. Vardalos' second directorial feature after the 2009 romcom I Hate Valentine's Day (also starring Corbett), My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is a broad family comedy that aims for crowd-pleasing but misses the mark.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 review
Like its predecessor, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 has a vast river of sadness running beneath its kooky surface, and Vardalos (who wrote and directed this installment) doesn't seem to know how ...
'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3' Review: An Unfortunate Affair
'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3' Review: Nia Vardalos Directs an Unfortunate Affair Filled With Beauty and Blunders Reviewed at AMC The Grove 14, Los Angeles, Sept. 6, 2023. Running time: 91 MIN.
'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3' Review: Mostly Painless Third Installment
Director-screenwriter: Nia Vardalos. Rated PG-13, 1 hour 31 minutes. And as a special treat, you'll get to hang out with them in Greece, which only makes you wonder why they didn't get there ...
'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3' Review: N'opa!
Sept. 7, 2023. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3. Directed by Nia Vardalos. Comedy, Drama, Romance. PG-13. 1h 31m. Find Tickets. When you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our ...
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (2023)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3: Directed by Nia Vardalos. With Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Louis Mandylor, Elena Kampouris. After the death of the family's patriarch, Toula attempts to locate her father's childhood friends in Greece for a family reunion.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3
Sep 21, 2023. IN A NUTSHELL: In the newest addition to the My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise, the kooky family travels to Greece for a long-awaited family reunion. Nia Vardalos stars in this with her break-out role AND directs the whole party. The story is supposed to take place one year after the events of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 review
T wo decades after the franchise-inaugurating nuptials of Toula (played by writer-director Nia Vardalos), she's leading the Greek-American Portokalos clan back to the homeland for the first time ...
'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3': Thin story, thinner characters
September 7, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. EDT. The Portokalos family, including Toula, Ian and Aunt Voula, take a trip to Greece after the death of patriarch Gus. (Video: Focus Features) ( 2 stars) You can ...
Review: 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3' has gorgeous locations, but this
Review: 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3' has gorgeous locations, but this flaming cheese has cooled. Nia Vardalos and John Corbett in the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3.". Last summer, Nia ...
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (2023)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is a fair romantic comedy film that brings back the family with time changing and aging every one. Which the family travel to Greece to visit the fathers hometown and look for his best friends. Plot is nothing new with the film series. Some characters meet new family members.
Review: 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3' falls flat but hits an emotional
Now, seven years later, we get "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3," in which the whole Portokalos clan gathers in Athens to memorialize a death in the family. It's the passing of daddy Gus, whose final ...
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 review
Unfortunately for Vardalos, the proof is in the proverb: you really can't step in the same river twice or, it seems, three times. On paper, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 seeks to move the story ...
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3
And My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 tells us that family doesn't end just because someone has died. The film pays homage to family patriarch Gus, as well as Michael Constantine, the late actor who portrayed him. Many scenes illustrate the positive impact that Gus had on the extended family. Other scenes subtly remind us of his role in fathering ...
Movie Review: 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3'
In theaters now, 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3' is like the local Greek fast-food chain -- it offers up a similar menu of chaotic, squabbling family members, some emotional moments and jokes ...
'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3' review: More Greece, less wedding, no
With Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Elena Kampouris, Louis Mandylor, Lainie Kazan, Andrea Martin. Written and directed by Vardalos. 91 minutes. Rated PG-13 for suggestive material and some nudity ...
'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3' Review: Nia Vardalos Falls Flat
Sadly, the third film does away with the first movie's charm and leans further into the sequel's tackiness. Vardalos' greatest strength with "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3" is sourcing ...
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is a 2023 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Nia Vardalos.The third installment in the My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise, the film stars Vardalos, John Corbett, Louis Mandylor, Elena Kampouris, Gia Carides, Joey Fatone, Lainie Kazan, and Andrea Martin.It is the first entry not to star Michael Constantine (who died in 2021), Bess Meisler, and Ian ...
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (2023) Movie Reviews
Offers. From writer and director Nia Vardalos, the worldwide phenomenon My Big Fat Greek Wedding is coming back to theaters with a brand-new adventure. Join the Portokalos family as they travel to a family reunion in Greece for a heartwarming and hilarious trip full of love, twists and turns. Opa!
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Review: A Halfhearted Reunion
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 arrives in theaters with high expectations, thanks to the success of its predecessors. Directed once again by Nia Vardalos, the film follows the Portokalos family on a journey to Greece for a family reunion, commemorating the late Gus Portokalos, who was a beloved character portrayed by Michael Constantine.Unfortunately, this installment falls short of the charm and ...
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Movie Review for Parents
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Rating & Content Info . Why is My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 rated PG-13? My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for suggestive material and some nudity.. Violence: None noted. Sexual Content: Men and women kiss passionately on several occasions.There are frequent scenes of nudity, in a dressing context or on a nude beach.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (2023): Cast, Premiere, Trailer
Other cast includes: Louis Mandylo as Nick Portokalos, Maria Vacratsis as Thiea Freida, Elias Kacavas as Aristotle, Gia Carides as Nikki, and Joey Fatone as Angelo. Why Michael Constantine won't ...
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3
The Nun II Scares Its Way to a $32.6 Million Domestic Weekend Box Office Victory. Sep 10, 2023 - The Equalizer 3, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, Jawan, and Barbie rounded out the top five. My Big Fat ...
It's a Big Fat Family Reunion in the First 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3
The first My Big Fat Greek Wedding became a surprise smash hit when it was released in 2002. Though it only ever received a limited theatrical release, the film went on to earn nearly $369 million ...

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‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3’ Review: Nia Vardalos Directs an Unfortunate Affair Filled With Beauty and Blunders

Courtney Howard

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Reviewed at AMC The Grove 14, Los Angeles, Sept. 6, 2023. Running time: 91 MIN.

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