I saw "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2" yesterday. Brilliant!
I never thought a sequel could ever be better than the original film, even if "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" came extremely close to doing so. It's particularly hard for a sequel to exceed the original when the first film set as high a bar as "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 1" did, but I believe "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2" is even better than the original.
"My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2" is about families who are constantly in each other's faces, but also have each other's backs.
"My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2" is about people who have pride and love for their heritage, and appreciation for the heritage of others. In this vein, the scene with the four elderly men in the physio clinic, talking about their Greek, Iranian, Chinese, and Scottish cultures was pure gold.
"My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2"is about young people becoming their own individuals in their own right, and it's also about elderly people learning that they can still enjoy life.
"My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2" is about about people in the difficult position of parenting their kids and their parents, simultaneously, and remaining human in the process.
A sequel wouldn't be a sequel if there weren't some humourous references to the first film, and MBFGW2 has plenty of these, enough to recall key comic moments from MBFGW1, but not so much that one needs to see MBFGW1 before seeing MBFGW2. (If you haven't seen the first film yet, you'll definitely want to get the DVD after seeing this one.)
As a clergy-type myself, one of the refreshing things in both films in the "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" series is that the series treats as utterly normal the fact that the participants in the film are worshippers. There isn't a hint of caricature in any of the church scenes. (I noticed in the credits that the part of the priest was played by an actual priest.) One of the great emotional moments in the film involved the wedding crowns used in the Orthodox wedding liturgy, but I won't give a spoiler for this.
"My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2" is a celebration of life, and it's also screamingly funny.
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