My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3

I enjoyed the first two movies in this trilogy(?) very much, but My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 really fell flat. It seemed like a series of meaningless little events padding a rather weak premise of Toula following her father's dying wish to bring his journal to his childhood buddies in Greece. Of course, locating his dispersed chums is difficult and creates the central theme of the story. Thrown in are some poorly developed new characters including a dopey "mayor", a menacing old woman and a previously unknown relative. Also, a contrived romance between a Greek boy and a Syrian girl is shoehorned in to supply the prerequisite "Greek Wedding". There are very few laughs and a fair amount of implausability in this messy Greek salad. If you're a fan of the previous two movies, I'd advise you to wait till it comes out on video and save yourself some money.

This film might be with worst piece of editing ever, no really, it could be that bad. There were a lot of story lines and a lot of subplots. But it really felt as though someone was given an ultimatum to make the move 92 minutes no matter what, but they also did not want to cut any subplots, running gags, scenery or anything. So the film felt like a frenetic mess. It can be hard enough to make a comedy like this that also has it's poignant moments. But every scene seemed so rushed that the funny moments never had time to hit and felt so rushed it was not funny. And anything that might have been poignant did not have time to sink in. I even felt like in one scene they referenced something from a previous scene that I think was cut in editing. Or maybe it just happened so fast I missed it... It felt like it was edited by a 12 year old for a tiktok channel. I think there was a lot to work with in the film, which makes the disaster all that much sadder. I think there might have been a decent movie here had they slowed down and let the story develop and unfold. Too bad. 3/10.

If you read reviews to determine whether or not to go view a movie, I am here to tell you DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME or MONEY!! I don't even know where to begin. It was a disaster from beginning to end. It actually made me cringe.

The movie was filled with aimless sentimental moments whose placement in the film didn't even make sense. I only laughed twice and both times were at the still funny, and fan favorite Aunt. For her only I rate this film a 2.

We met some new family in the film and then barely even got to know them before they were having huge sentimental moments so we couldn't even be happy for them because we didn't have a chance to develop feelings for the characters.

If you love this franchise like I do, skip this 3rd installment, grab the popcorn and have a ball watching MBFGW 1 and 2 instead.

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.

THINGS I LIKED: Fans of the franchise will get a kick out of seeing their favorite Greek family again.

We get to see a lot of Greece! I finally got to travel there a few years ago. I absolutely LOVED the food. Greek food is so much better when you're actually in Greece! We hit all of the big tourist spots all over the country. We even took a quick flight so we could visit Santorini. So great! I always love traveling in movies too, because it gives me ideas for my Travel Bucket List. One of the characters is Syrian, so we get to learn a little bit about Syrian dance moves.

There's an important conversation in the movie about how people work all of their lives, saving their money, hoping they'll have their health to travel once they retire. I know a lot of people who have that philosophy but my husband I don't. We recognize that tomorrow isn't promised, so we are committed to traveling as much as we can now while we work.

We get to see all of our fan favorites, as well as meet a few new ones. The cast includes Nia Vardalos (who is perfect in the role of Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos), John Corbett (still as handsome as ever), Andrea Martin (always hilarious), Lainie Kazan, Louis Mandylor, Elena Kampouris, Gia Carides, and even Joey Fatone!

Missing from the cast are Michael Constantine, Bruce Gray, and Constantine Vardalos. Sadly, they all passed away since the last movie. This film is dedicated to them.

One scene I remember from the very first film in the franchise is when all of the women pulled back each other's necks when taking a photo. I've done that with my friends and sisters on occasion for laughs. In this movie, a new character in Greece teaches the Americans another tip for the perfect photo. Ha ha Speaking of the perfect shot, Barry Peterson has the lucky job as a cinematographer in the film. It's hard to take a bad shot when you're in beautiful Greece!

Both Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman, and Rita Wilson worked as producers with Nia Vardalos serving as the Executive Producer AND director.

Stephanie Economou offers some original music, which is fun.

There is a very real element in the story of the matriarch in the family who now has dementia. My mother recently passed away. She struggled with Alzheimer's for many years, so the scenes in the movie that showed Maria Portokalos always made me sad.

There are some touching moments when childhood friends are reunited.

There are some cute moments and running gags.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: It's not nearly as funny as we all wished it were.

The story doesn't flow well.

It sure is convenient that everyone in Greece can speak English with the characters in the story!

There is a romance in the story but the couple is already together and complete strangers to the family. They finally admit they want to get married. That's it. That's not how I would describe a rom-com.

TIPS FOR PARENTS: Kids will probably be bored. Sadly, so will some adults.

Some Greek is spoken with and without subtitles.

Lots of alcohol. Some people get drunk.

We see full-frontal nudity of a man, except he holds a soda bottle in front of his junk so we, thankfully, don't have to see that.

A man shaves a lot of body parts in front of everyone.

With their mother suffering from dementia, a family are faced with a bit of impending mortality and decide it's time to head back to their ancestral Greek homeland for a family reunion. "Toula" (the film's auteur Nia Vardalos) and her American husband "Ian" (John Corbett) head off with her body-grooming obsessed brother "Nick" (Louis Mandylor), a pair of sagely aunts and the lovestruck - though they don't yet know it - "Paris" (Elena Kampouris) and "Aristotle" (Elias Kacavas). Upon arrival they meet the local mayor "Victory" (Melina Kotselou). Now she's an enthusiastic young woman whom, it turns out, has maybe been talking up this gathering. Indeed, the visitors might well be the only people who are coming! Their welcome locally is a bit hit and miss thanks to the imperious, curmudgeonly, and rather ubiquitous old "Alexandra" (the scene-stealing Anthi Andreopoulou) but gets slightly more friendly when they all discover just how closely related they all are, and after the hunt starts for some old friends of their father who left the island many years ago... What now ensues is the gentlest of family comedies that raises the very occasional smile; plays a lot to stereotype and generally presents us with a beautifully shot, entirely predictable, soap opera. Kampouris and Kacavas provide the eye candy, and the aunties dispense some words of wisdom now and again allowing Lainia Kazan ("Maria") to remind me a lot of Joan Rivers. Otherwise, though, this is entirely forgettable summer fayre that smacks a little of "Mamma Mia" (2008) only without the toe-tappers. It's watchable but very unremarkable.