MovieChat Forums > My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) Discussion > I still can't understand how it became s...

I still can't understand how it became such a huge success


I'm Greek, and I was living in New York when this came out, and I saw the poster and I thought "who's gonna see this crap?". I literally thought it was one of those cheap comedies that play in a couple of theaters, and then they come out on DVD after a couple of months, and nobody remembers them. And then I found out it was a f--king blockbuster! Why?? It had no movie stars, and there was nothing special about it! Just an American dude marrying a Greek-American woman! Is the Greek population in America so huge, and everybody saw it like 10 times each??

Well, the sequel wasn't such a huge success (but still a success, considering the small budget), so I guess people came to their senses!

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Here is my perspective: I am Croatian so basically the same ad Greeks in many ways. These movie's could easily be called "My Big Fat Croatian Wedding" just ad Moonstruck could be about Croatians vs Italians. It's funny because even when far fetched, I can relate to the whole thing: the grandma living with you; the Dad's being control freaks, the extended families; cousins knowing everyone's business. It's funny. It's entertainment in my opinion.

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Not Greek or anything similar, not a woman. I really enjoyed it because it was warmhearted and funny.

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Agreed. My family is Croatian/Donauswabian. It's exactly the same. Every wedding has a million people and they're somehow all family.

My mother and father invited 120 people to my wedding. My wife invited 20.

10 of her family showed up. Everyone in my family showed up. The wedding was in northern MN. 120 miles from Duluth. Most people flew into Minneapolis and drove the 220 some miles to a town hall in the middle of nowhere.

People showed up to my wedding that I'd never met. There was live music, dancing, a kegger in the parking lot, lots of Jägermeister shared with my grandpa. All the cooking was done by family. All the decorating by family. Flowers were fresh wilds. Blueberries were picked as they were aggressively in season. Everyone was kissing everyone on the lips like crazy people.

My out of pocket expense was $20 for the minister (I know it wasn't Catholic but you make do in the north woods, Methodist worked fine).

My parents spent $35 for the venue and $50 to rent tables and chairs which we had to haul ourselves from 40 miles away. I had to have them take care of it because I barely had the $20 at the time. My wife's mom made my wife's wedding dress on her own because they didn't have money either. My grandma bought me my suit. 22 years later and it's still a nice suit.

People said it was the best wedding they'd ever been too. It cost almost nothing but personal labor. It's normal for insane Croatians to do these things.

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It's a chick flick. It has love, family and a wedding... I never saw the movie in the theaters and finally seeing it for the first time, nothing else on tv. It's a cute flick

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It was a sleeper hit, which means it was up for a looooong time in the cinemas, and everyone who went for a date or just a movie took a peek at it. I recall it in the cinema as being a sweet film, and a happy one. Which was needed in the post 9/11 Bush era.

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Because it speaks volumes to people out their who have BIG families that are so close, they're in each other's lifes and stick together no matter what. I'm Greek, and saw a lot of my family in this film. It takes this in a very humorous tone.

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Because people who aren't Greek enjoyed it that's why.

I married into a large wonderful Italian family and fell in love with all the things I discovered. Greeks , like the Italians are great cooks and they love you with food, we love them back.

I felt at home watching this cute movie, they welcomed us as well as the new non Greek relative and his family.

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"Because people who aren't Greek enjoyed it that's why."

There ya go!

It was funny and romantic, not great but a bit better done than most romantic comedies, and the Greek angle made it different from the generic fare starring Jennifer Lopez or Jennifer Aniston. But really, it was a movie that got lucky.

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Normally, fare like MBFGW isn't my style, but one day I was sitting at a bar and it was either the first movie, or the second but I don't think it was the TV show (could've been) was being Closed Captioned on the telly. I wasn't drunk, but something about reading the dialog and seeing the expressions on these people's faces, I found myself cracking up. Had I been at home and had this with the sound on, well, I probably wouldn't even give it a chance, and if I had I doubt I would have found it so funny. So I'll give Nia V that. It's gotta be funny on some level.

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Different strokes for different folks. It's a lighthearted chic flick with romance and family drama. And it's relatively clean, even in its drama. It's ok if you didn't enjoy it, but that doesn't mean no one can.

And just to point out, John Corbett may not be George Clooney or Brad Pitt when it comes to fame, but he did win an Emmy and has been nominated for multiple Golden Globes. He might not be your definition of a movie star, but he's not a nobody in Hollywood.

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Because it's a good story, has very good acting, and it's funny :D. I've met several American Greeks who love this film, and they can totally identify with Toula's family. And who could resist Ian? I'd love to have a husband who loved me the way he loved Toula. However, I don't expect dad to give me a house next door to his as a wedding present, hehe.

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It was a big hit because it easily could have been My Big Fat ______ Wedding for a couple of dozen or more counties/ethnicities. They all could relate to it from their life.

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