My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is a 2016 American romantic comedy film directed by Kirk Jones and written by Nia Vardalos. The film features actors Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Lainie Kazan, Michael Constantine (in his final film role), Andrea Martin, Ian Gomez, and Elena Kampouris.
It is the sequel to the 2002 film My Big Fat Greek Wedding and the second part of the My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise. Filming began in late May 2015 in Toronto, and the film was released on March 25, 2016, by Universal Pictures. Critics gave the film negative reviews. The film made $90.6 million worldwide, compared to a $18 million budget. A third film, titled My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, was released on September 8, 2023.
Plot
Toula Portokalos-Miller's life is in trouble; her travel agency and the family dry cleaners have closed because of the recession. The only family business still open is the restaurant run by her father, Gus. Her husband, Ian, is the principal at their teenage daughter Paris' high school.
Paris is applying to college and feels overwhelmed by her close-knit family, who often interfere in her life. She wants more freedom and space, so she applies to schools across the country. Ian and Toula's marriage is having problems because Toula constantly tries to control Paris' life and fix issues in her family.
Gus believes he is a descendant of Alexander the Great and wants to confirm this with an online ancestry site. While looking through old records, he finds out that his marriage certificate with Maria was never signed by a priest, making their marriage legally invalid. His current priest cannot sign the certificate but agrees to hold a new ceremony.
Gus insists on remarrying Maria after fifty years of marriage, but Maria wants him to propose properly. When he refuses, she refuses to go through with the ceremony. Meanwhile, Toula and Ian go on a date night to rekindle their romance, but their family sees them kissing in their car outside their house.
When Gus is taken to the hospital, Maria initially refuses to visit, saying she is not his wife. Gus pleads with her, and she agrees to remarry him. Maria hires a wedding planner, but the planner quits after the family's choices become too wild. The entire family, including Ian's parents, Rodney and Harriet, and Angelo's business partner, Patrick, help plan the wedding. Nick encourages Angelo to tell his parents, Voula and Taki, that Patrick is also his romantic partner. Gus's estranged brother, Panos, unexpectedly arrives from Greece.
Paris is accepted to Northwestern University in Chicago and NYU in New York. She chooses Northwestern to please her mother, but her great-grandmother convinces her to attend NYU instead. Paris asks Bennett, a boy she has a crush on, to the prom. She is initially embarrassed about her background, but Bennett is also Greek and has a similarly chaotic family. The prom is on the same night as the wedding, so Toula allows Paris to attend the prom if she goes to the reception afterward.
On the way to the church, Gus, Panos, and Taki arrive drunk after drinking ouzo. Maria leaves to go to the vestry after seeing Gus act foolishly, feeling he is not taking the wedding seriously. Panos tells Maria that Gus had told him he loves her, so the ceremony continues. During the wedding, Ian and Toula privately renew their marriage vows. At the prom, Paris and Bennett share their first kiss while slow-dancing.
At the wedding reception, Gus reads a letter from the ancestry site confirming he is a descendant of Alexander the Great. Ian later discovers that Toula forged the letter to make her father happy. The movie ends with the entire family helping Paris move into her college dorm in New York.
Cast
- Nia Vardalos as Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos-Miller
- John Corbett as Ian Miller, Toula's husband
- Elena Kampouris as Paris Miller, Toula and Ian's 17-year-old daughter
- Lainie Kazan as Maria Portokalos, Toula's mother
- Michael Constantine as Kostas "Gus" Portokalos, Toula's father
- Andrea Martin as Theia Voula, Toula's aunt
- Louis Mandylor as Nick Portokalos, Toula's brother
- Gia Carides as Cousin Nikki, Voula's daughter
- Gerry Mendicino as Uncle Taki, Voula's husband, and Angelo and Nikki's father
- Joey Fatone as Cousin Angelo, Voula's son
- Bess Meisler as Mana-Yiayia, Toula's grandmother
- Stavroula Logothettis as Athena Portokalos, Toula's sister
- Ian Gomez as Mike, Ian's best friend
- Mark Margolis as Panos Portokalos, Kostas's brother
- John Stamos as George, a Greek-American news anchor
- Rita Wilson as Anna, George's wife
- Alex Wolff as Bennett, Paris's love interest
- Bruce Gray as Rodney Miller, Ian's father
- Fiona Reid as Harriet Miller, Ian's mother
- Jayne Eastwood as Mrs. White, the Portokalos' neighbor
- Rob Riggle as Northwestern Rep
Production
In a 2009 interview for her film My Life in Ruins, Nia Vardalos was asked about a possible sequel to the 2002 romantic comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding. She said she had an idea for a sequel and had started writing it, suggesting the film might be set in Greece, like Ruins.
In a November 2012 interview, she was asked about the sequel again. She confirmed she was still working on the idea.
On May 27, 2014, news and media outlets reported that a sequel was being planned. Vardalos later confirmed this on Twitter and wrote the script for the film. Universal Pictures bought the rights to show the movie in the United States on November 11, 2014. Kirk Jones was chosen to direct the film, based on Vardalos’s script. She also starred in the movie.
Principal photography, or the main filming, began on May 10, 2015, in Toronto. It ended on June 28, 2015.
Release
On May 21, 2015, Universal planned the movie for a March 25, 2016, release.
On November 11, 2015, the first trailer was shown during a broadcast of NBC's The Today Show.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 21, 2016.
Reception
During its first weekend, the film was expected to earn $15 million from 3,133 theaters. It earned $7.2 million on its first day and $17.9 million overall during the opening weekend, placing third at the box office behind Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($166 million) and Zootopia ($24 million). In its second weekend, the film earned $11.2 million, which was a drop of 37.2% compared to its first weekend, and again placed third behind Batman v Superman ($51.3 million) and Zootopia ($19.3 million).
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 28% based on 172 reviews, with an average score of 4.6 out of 10. The site’s summary of reviews states, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is as sweet and harmless as the original, but its jokes and stereotypes do not come together into a meaningful story.” Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 37 out of 100, based on 32 critics, which indicates “generally unfavorable reviews.” Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A−” on a scale from A+ to F.
Jeanette Catsoulis of The New York Times criticized the sequel, calling it “tired and familiar” and noting its lack of originality and overuse of simple, predictable humor that made people less fond of the original film. Geoff Berkshire of Variety praised the film’s sweet charm and the cast’s ability to find humor in cultural traditions, but pointed out that its sitcom-like structure limited the film’s ability to create deeper emotional connections compared to the original.