Oh no, it’s the curse of the rom-com revival—bringing back a once-beloved rom-com for a threequel nobody asked for. My Big Fat Greek Wedding is one of the most successful independent films of all time, earning over $368 million against a mere $5 million budget.
But the second movie, released in 2016, saw vastly diminished returns, earning just $90 million (on an $18 million budget). $90 million is still good for a rom-com, though, so here comes My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, which should be called: My Big Fat Greek Stereotypes.
It's not like the first film didn’t take some knocks back in 2002 for its stereotypical portrayal of Grecian-Americans, but ultimately, the warmth and humor of the film carried it, and nobody got too bent out of shape about it. The good nature of the film and creator-star Nia Vardalos won over the critics. The trailer for the third movie, however, had my eyebrows climbing all the way off my face and ascending to heaven, because YIKES ON BIKES, it is a veritable baklava of stereotypes.
At first, I thought they were going for a fizzy Mama Mia!: Here We Go Again vibe, but that fades pretty quickly in the face of rapidly mounting stereotypes. By the third entry, should this franchise not have more to offer than souvlaki and jokes about how everyone in Greece is related? I want to give this the benefit of the doubt, because Nia Vardalos is a rare Hollywood feel-good success story, and these films are keeping Joey Fatone employed, but watch this trailer and tell me you don’t feel second-hand embarrassment. We’re all here for the rom-com revival, but maybe we didn’t need a third Big Fat Greek movie.
