My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 revisits fans with mixed reviews

Movie Title:      My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 

Grade:   C

Rating:   PG-13, 1 hour 34 minutes

In a Nutshell:  Produced by Tom Hanks, this sequel features the wacky Greek family we fell in love with in 2002.  Opa!  

Fans will get a kick out of seeing their favorite characters again, but viewers new to the story won’t get to see the original charm and freshness that was in the first one.

  

Uplifting theme: 

•  “You walk through your life and see your shadow as two people.” – Gus
• Marriage, forgiveness, love, romance, family 

Things I liked:

• I’ll have to remember that “pull my neck back” trick for taking photos.
• There’s a cute scene when Toula tries to teach her dad how to use a computer.  Yeah, we’ve all been there.
• There is some good physical humor by several characters, but Nia Vardolos does it best.
• John Legend's song “All of me” plays during a sweet wedding scene.  It's touching, but not quite enough to evoke any tears out of the audience.
• Rita Wilson, Tom Hanks’ wife in real life, is seen singing at the wedding.  She really did start singing with a band recently.
• Gus tries to research his family’s roots to prove he is related to Alexander the Great.   Did you now you can do it for free at www.familysearch.org ?  It’s the largest genealogy site in the world!
• John Corbett is still handsome and charming, but we don't get to see him very much in the story.
• SPOILER:  Joey Fatone embraces his inner Greek and another man.  Writer Nia Vardalos includes a short character line towards the end of the movie to raise a toast to the gay community and explains that she wanted to put a little message of acceptance into her film.

Things I didn’t like:

• I really like Toula's character, but it’s sad to see her without much confidence, even after 14 years.  Luckily, you see some growth towards the end of the movie.
• Paris (the teenage daughter) is a mopey goth and completely unappealing at the beginning of the movie.  There is no real event that causes her transformation, but suddenly, she loses the dark eyeliner and emo attitude and turns into a lovely young woman.
• It's odd how awkward and uncomfortable Toula and Ian are around each other, especially after 17 years of marriage together. 
• Why couldn’t they have picked a different night to have the wedding than on Paris' prom night?  They weren't in any hurry and so it makes no sense, other than a contrived sequence of events.  
• It has the same silly stereotypes as the first movie.

Funny lines:

•  “Shut up Tommy!” – said 2 times by Paris   (I thought it would be a funny, running gag throughout the movie, but it’s only at the beginning.  Too bad.)
• “We’re not married?  - Maria Portokalos (Lainie Kazan)

“No.” – Gus (Michael Constantine)

“And we had children?  I’m a hippie!” – Maria

• “Greek don’t creak.”  - Aunt Voula  (Andrea Martin)
• “You’re so Greek, we’re probably related.” – Gus
• “The wedding planner…she fired me!” – Maria
• “Telephone…telegram…tell a Greek.” – Greek relative lady 

Interesting lines:

• “Why do parents always say ‘dream big’ when they really mean not too big?” – Paris 

Tips for parents:   

• The language is clean and it is generally a good family-friendly movie.
• There are quite a few sex jokes.