My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a 2002 Canadian and American
romantic comedy filmRomantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is "a funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily"...
written by and starring
Nia VardalosAntonia Eugenia "Nia" Vardalos is a Canadian-American actress, screenwriter, director, singer and producer. Her most notable work is the 2002 Academy Award–nominated film My Big Fat Greek Wedding.-Personal life:...
and directed by
Joel ZwickJoel Zwick is an American film, television and theatre director. He is best known for his work on Perfect Strangers, Full House, Family Matters and well as directing the films My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Second Sight and Fat Albert.Born in Brooklyn, New York, he was educated at Brooklyn College...
. The film is centered on Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos (
Nia VardalosAntonia Eugenia "Nia" Vardalos is a Canadian-American actress, screenwriter, director, singer and producer. Her most notable work is the 2002 Academy Award–nominated film My Big Fat Greek Wedding.-Personal life:...
), a
middle classThe middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
Greek AmericanGreek Americans are Americans of Greek descent also described as Hellenic descent. According to the 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimation, there were 1,380,088 people of Greek ancestry in the United States, while the State Department mentions that around 3,000,000 Americans claim to be of Greek descent...
woman who falls in love with a non-Greek
upper middle classThe upper middle class is a sociological concept referring to the social group constituted by higher-status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term "lower middle class", which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle class stratum, and to the broader term "middle...
"
White Anglo-Saxon ProtestantWhite Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
" Ian Miller (John Corbett). At the
75th Academy AwardsThe 75th Academy Awards honored the best films of 2002, were held on March 23, 2003, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. It was produced by Gil Cates and hosted for the second time by Steve Martin....
, it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. A
sleeper hitA sleeper hit, a.k.a. surprise hit , refers to a film, book, single, album, TV show, or video game that gains unexpected success or recognition...
, the film grossed $241.4 million in North America, despite never reaching number one at the box office during its release (the highest-grossing film to accomplish this feat).
Plot
Toula (Nia Vardalos) is going through an early
midlife crisis"Midlife Crisis" is a song by the American rock band Faith No More. It was released on May 26, 1992 as the first single from their fourth album, Angel Dust...
. At thirty, she is the only woman in her family who has "failed". Her family expects her to "marry a Greek, make Greek babies, and feed everyone until the day [she] die[s]." Instead, Toula is stuck working in the family business, a restaurant. In contrast to her "perfect" sister, Athena (Stavroula Logothetis), Toula is frumpy and cynical. She fears she's doomed to be stuck with her life as it is.
At the restaurant, she briefly sees Ian Miller (John Corbett), a handsome school teacher. This event, combined with an argument with her father, Gus (Michael Constantine), motivates her to begin taking computer classes at a local college. She also gets contact lenses, wears her hair curly, and begins to use makeup. Toula, her mother (Laine Kazan), and her aunt Voula (Andrea Martin) then contrive a way to get Gus to allow her to work at Voula's travel agency.
Toula feels much better in her new job, especially when she notices Ian hanging around looking at her through the window. They finally introduce themselves and begin dating. Toula keeps the relationship secret from her family until some weeks later when Gus finds out. He throws a fit because Ian is not Greek, but Ian and Toula continue to see each other against Gus's wishes. Ian proposes marriage to her, she accepts, and he agrees to be
baptizedIn Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
in the
Greek Orthodox ChurchThe Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition whose liturgy is also traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament...
to be worthy of her family.
As the year passes, the wedding planning hits snag after snag as Toula's relatives "helpfully" interfere. Her father insists on inviting the entire church to the ceremony, her mother orders the invitations but misspells Ian's parents' names, and Toula's cousin Nikki (Gia Carides) orders tacky bridesmaids' dresses. Toula is horrified to learn that her parents invited the entire family to what was meant to be a "quiet" dinner, and the Millers, not used to such cultural fervor, are overwhelmed.
The wedding day dawns with liveliness and hysteria, but the traditional wedding itself goes without a hitch. Gus gives a speech accepting Ian and the Millers as family and buys the newlyweds a house right next door to him. The film's epilogue shows the new couple's life six years later in which they have a daughter, Paris, whom they raise in the Greek style, but Toula tells her she can marry anyone she wants when she grows up after she says she wants to go to Brownies instead of Greek school.
Cast
- Nia Vardalos
Antonia Eugenia "Nia" Vardalos is a Canadian-American actress, screenwriter, director, singer and producer. Her most notable work is the 2002 Academy Award–nominated film My Big Fat Greek Wedding.-Personal life:...
as Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos
- John Corbett as Ian Miller
- Lainie Kazan
Lainie Kazan is an American actress and singer.-Personal life:Kazan was born Lanie Levine in Brooklyn, New York City, the daughter of a Russian Ashkenazi Jewish father who worked as a bookie and a Turkish Sephardic Jewish mother, Carole, whom Kazan has described as "neurotic, fragile and...
as Maria Portokalos
- Michael Constantine
Michael Constantine is a Greek American actor.He is probably now best known for his portrayal of Gus Portokalos, the Windex bottle-toting Greek father of Toula Portokalos , in the 2002 surprise hit film My Big Fat Greek Wedding.Prior to that, he was well-known for his extensive TV work, especially...
as Kostas "Gus" Portokalos
- Ian Gomez
Ian Gomez is an American actor best known for his comedic TV work, the most notable of which are his series-regular stints as Javier on Felicity and Andy on Cougar Town.-Career:...
as Mike
- Andrea Martin
Andrea Louise Martin is an American and Canadian actress and comedienne. She has appeared in films such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, on stage in productions such as My Favorite Year, Fiddler on the Roof and Candide, and in the television series, SCTV.-Personal life:Martin, the oldest of three...
as Aunt Voula
- Stavroula Logothettis as Athena Portokalos
- Louis Mandylor
Louis Mandylor is an Australian film and television actor.-Life and career:Mandylor was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, the son of Greek immigrants Louise and Yannis Theodosopoulos, a taxi driver...
as Nick Portokalos
- Gia Carides
Gia Carides is an Australian actress. She is best known for her portrayals of Liz Holt in Strictly Ballroom, Susy Connor in Brilliant Lies, and Cousin Nikki in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.-Early life:...
as Cousin Nikki
- Joey Fatone
Joseph Anthony "Joey" Fatone, Jr. is an American singer, dancer, actor and television personality. He is best known as a member of the boyband, 'N Sync, in which he sang baritone. In 2007, he came in second place on the ABC reality show Dancing with the Stars...
as Cousin Angelo
- Bruce Gray
Bruce Gray is a Puerto Rican-born Canadian actor.-Early years:Gray was born Robert Bruce Gray in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Canadian parents...
as Rodney Miller
- Fiona Reid
Fiona Reid, CM is a Canadian television, film and stage actress. She is best known for her role as Cathy on the TV series King of Kensington....
as Harriet Miller
- Arielle Sugarman as Paris Miller
- Jayne Eastwood
Jayne Eastwood , also credited as Jane Easton or Jane Eastwood, is a Canadian actress most famous for appearing in the 2002 film Chicago. She was one of the original cast members of the Toronto branch of The Second City, and was a semi-regular on SCTV...
as Mrs. White
Location and release dates
The film was shot in
TorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
and
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. Toronto's
Ryerson UniversityRyerson University is a public research university located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its urban campus is adjacent to Yonge-Dundas Square located at the busiest intersection in Downtown Toronto. The majority of its buildings are in the blocks northeast of the square in Toronto's Garden...
and
Greektown neighborhood feature prominently in the film. Despite its writer being from Winnipeg, and the use of Toronto for location shots, the movie was set in Chicago. Walking tours of Greektown on
Danforth AvenueDanforth Avenue is an east-west arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its western end begins in Old Toronto from the Prince Edward Viaduct as a continuation of Bloor Street and continues through East York until intersecting with Kingston Road in Scarborough...
point out scene locations. The home used to depict Gus and Maria Portokalos' residence (as well as the home bought next door at the end of the film for Toula and Ian) is located on Glenwood Crescent just off O'Connor Drive in
East YorkEast York can refer to:*East York, Pennsylvania, United States*East York, Ontario, Canada...
. The real home representing the Portokalos' residence actually has most of the external ornamentation that was shown in the film. Also, some minor parts of the movie were shot in Jarvis High School in Toronto.
After a February 2002 premiere, it was initially released in the USA on April 19, 2002. That summer it opened in
IcelandIceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
,
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
,
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, and
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The following fall and winter it opened in
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
,
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
,
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
,
ArgentinaArgentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
,
Hong KongHong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
,
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
,
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
,
Czech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
,
BelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
,
TaiwanTaiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, the
PhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
,
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
,
PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
,
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
,
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
,
HungaryHungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
,
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
,
SwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
(German speaking region),
FranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
,
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
,
KuwaitThe State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
,
EstoniaEstonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, and
LithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
. It was finally released in
South KoreaThe Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
in March 2003, and
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in July 2003.
Reception and performance
My Big Fat Greek Wedding became a
sleeper hitA sleeper hit, a.k.a. surprise hit , refers to a film, book, single, album, TV show, or video game that gains unexpected success or recognition...
and grew steadily from its limited release. Despite never hitting the number one spot and being an independent film with a $5 million budget, it ultimately grossed over $368.7 million worldwide, becoming one of the top romantic films of the 21st Century according to
Echo Bridge Entertainment. It was the fifth highest-grossing movie of 2002 in the United States, with
USDThe United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
$241,438,208, and the highest-grossing romantic comedy in history. Domestically, it is also the highest-grossing film never having been number one on the weekly North American box office charts.
CNBCCNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
also found the film to be the most profitable movie of all time with a 6150% return on an inflation adjusted cost of $6 million to produce. Second place film
E.T. the Extra-TerrestrialE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote...
was a distant second with a 3172% return. However,
CNBCCNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
findings were not accurate because the 2004 film,
Napoleon DynamiteNapoleon Dynamite is a 2004 comedy film co-written and directed by Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess and stars Jon Heder as Napoleon Dynamite. The film was Jared Hess' first full-length feature and is partially adapted from his earlier short film, Peluca....
had a return of 11,500%, and the 2007 film, Paranormal Activity had a return of a whopping 1.3 million % (costing only $15,000 to produce and grossing an astonishing $193,355,800).
The movie received generally positive reviews. Martin Grove of
Hollywood Reporter wrote, "
Tom HanksThomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
and
Rita Wilson-Early life:Wilson was born Margarita Ibrahimoff in Los Angeles, California.Her father, a Bulgarian who worked at a racetrack, was born in Greece. Before immigrating to the US, he had lived in Bulgaria and Turkey....
[...] found
Wedding when it was a one-woman
Nia VardalosAntonia Eugenia "Nia" Vardalos is a Canadian-American actress, screenwriter, director, singer and producer. Her most notable work is the 2002 Academy Award–nominated film My Big Fat Greek Wedding.-Personal life:...
play in L.A. and believed in it so much that they got it made as a movie".
Based on 121 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an overall approval rating from critics of 75%, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's critical consensus was, "Though it sometimes feels like a television sitcom, My Big Fat Greek Wedding is good-hearted and lovable." By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 62, based on 29 reviews, which is considered to be "Generally favorable reviews".
My Big Fat Greek Life
The movie inspired the brief 2003 TV series
My Big Fat Greek LifeMy Big Fat Greek Life is a situation comedy series that ran on CBS in 2003. The series is a continuation on the 2002 movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding and was produced by HBO Television and Tom Hanks' Playtone Productions for Sony Pictures Television....
, with most of the major characters played by the same actors, with the exception of
Steven EckholdtSteven Eckholdt is an American actor of German descent.Eckholdt began his screen career in the mid 1980s. Primarily known for television roles, his main screen appearances include L.A. Law, Melrose Place, It's Like, You Know..., Providence, The West Wing and The L Word...
replacing John Corbett as the husband. Corbett had already signed on to the TV series
Lucky. He was scheduled to appear as the best friend of his replacement's character, but the show was cancelled before he appeared. The show received poor reviews from critics noting the random character entrances and serious plot "adjustments" that didn't match the movie.
The 7 episodes from the series are available on DVD from
Sony Pictures Home EntertainmentSony Pictures Home Entertainment is the home video distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It was established in November 1979 as Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment, releasing 20 titles: The Anderson Tapes, Bell, Book and Candle, Born Free, Breakout,...
, whose
TV studio divisionSony Pictures Television, Inc. is an American and global television production/distribution subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In turn, the latter is part of the Japanese conglomerate Sony.-Background:...
produced the show.
Cultural references
Throughout the film, Kostas "Gus" Portokalos, played by Michael Constantine, continuously uses
WindexWindex is a trademark for a glass and hard-surface cleaner manufactured since 1933. S. C. Johnson acquired Windex in 1993 and has been manufacturing it since that time. The product was recently reformulated with more environmentally desirable solvents....
, the popular window cleaner, as a remedy for everything.
The movie makes references to
Zorba the GreekZorba the Greek is a 1964 film based on the novel Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis. The film was directed by Cypriot Michael Cacoyannis and the title character was played by Anthony Quinn...
(1964),
The Lost BoysThe Lost Boys is a 1987 American teen comedy horror film directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Kiefer Sutherland, Jami Gertz, Corey Feldman, Dianne Wiest, Edward Herrmann, Alex Winter, Jamison Newlander, and Barnard Hughes....
(1987),
That Thing You Do!That Thing You Do! is a 1996 comedy-drama musical film written and directed by Tom Hanks. Set in the summer of 1964, the movie tells the story of the quick rise and fall of a one-hit wonder rock band...
(1996), and
Meet the ParentsMeet the Parents is a 2000 American comedy film written by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg and directed by Jay Roach. Starring Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller, the film chronicles a series of unfortunate events that befall a good-hearted but hapless male nurse while visiting his girlfriend's parents...
(2000), while spoofing
Thoroughly Modern MillieThoroughly Modern Millie is a 1967 American musical film directed by George Roy Hill and starring Julie Andrews. The screenplay by Richard Morris focuses on a naive young woman who finds herself in the midst of a series of madcap adventures when she sets her sights on marrying her wealthy boss.The...
(1967). Another independent Canadian feature,
Mambo ItalianoMambo Italiano is a 2003 comedy-drama/indie film, set in Montreal, Québec, Canada, and directed by Émile Gaudreault. The screenplay was written by Gaudreault and Steve Galluccio, based on Galluccio's theatrical play by the same name...
(2003), referenced
Wedding. Because of the surprise success of
Wedding and its unusual title, its name was lampooned by several television series and movies:
- An episode of the 15th season of The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
is titled "My Big Fat Geek Wedding"My Big Fat Geek Wedding" is the 17th episode of The Simpsons fifteenth season, first aired on April 18, 2004. The episode was originally planned to air on April 4, 2004, but due to the voice actors going on strike, FOX aired a rerun instead....
".
- In 2003, Fox debuted the reality series
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
, My Big Fat Obnoxious FianceMy Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé was a one-shot television reality show on the Fox Network during the 2003-2004 season. The show consisted of six hour-long episodes.-Plot summary:...
, and, in 2004, the short-lived My Big Fat Obnoxious BossMy Big Fat Obnoxious Boss is a television show on the Fox Network that was filmed in July 2004 and aired in 2004-2005. Similar to My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance, it was a parody of shows such as The Apprentice. The contestants performed several tasks that they were told would help them win a job at...
.
- Date Movie
Date Movie is a 2006 American parody film, which was directed and written by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, two of the writers of the first Scary Movie. Much of the story line was based on that of the well-known romantic comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Meet The Fockers...
parodied the film, as did My Big Fat Independent MovieMy Big Fat Independent Movie is a 2005 independent film produced and written by film journalist Chris Gore spoofing well-known independent films, such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Memento, Swingers, Pulp Fiction, Magnolia, Amelie, Reservoir Dogs, Pi, The Good Girl, Run Lola Run, and El Mariachi...
, released the previous year. One The Price Is RightThe Price Is Right is a television game show franchise originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, and created by Bob Stewart, and is currently produced and owned by FremantleMedia. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also includes merchandise such as video games, printed...
showcase parodied the film.
- In 2008, TV production firm DCD Media produced My Big Fat Mexican Wedding, a documentary about the marriage of Manuel Uribe
Manuel Uribe may refer to:*Manuel Uribe Ángel , Colombian academic and physician, governor of Antioquia, first curator of the Museum of Antioquia...
, formerly the world’s heaviest man, with his girlfriend Claudia Solis.
- NDTV
NDTV is an Indian commercial broadcasting television network founded in 1988. It was founded by Prannoy Roy, an eminent journalist and current chairman and director of NDTV Group. NDTV currently has more than 1,000 employees producing news from over twenty locations in India...
(a Southeast Asian Broadcast Channel) runs a series of episodes on lavish weddings, called "My Big Fat Indian Wedding".
- An episode of Ben 10
The Omnitrix was originally created by a Galvan named Azmuth. The Omnitrix was intended to allow beings to experience life as other species in order to bring understanding and foster peace in the universe....
is titled "My Big Fat Alien Wedding".
- Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
in the UK produced a documentary called "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding" about gypsy and traveller weddings, followed by a mini-series called Big Fat Gypsy Weddings.
- White Wedding
White Wedding is a South African romantic comedy. It tells the story of a road trip adventure embarked by a groom and his best friend as they race across South Africa to attend a wedding....
is a South African movie that follows a similar story line, where disastrous wedding preparations turn out right in the end.