My Life in Ruins
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My Life in Ruins
Cotton-ball-soft romantic comedy about a travel guide in Greece (Nia Vardalos) who learns to absorb the spirit of the Greek islands in order to enjoy life and find romance with -- who else? -- a handsome Greek (Alexis Georgoulis). Director Donald Petrie and screenwriter Mike Reiss duplicate the slow, ambling formula of Vardalos' monster hit, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," to the letter, replacing her passel of eccentric but lovable relatives with a busload of eccentric but lovable tourists. So devoid of objectionable elements, it's acceptable for older adolescents who probably will be dragged to the theater by Vardalos-adoring grandmothers. A couple of implied premarital encounters, mild sexual banter and innuendo. A-II -- adults and adolescents. (PG-13) 2009
My Life in Ruins (Full Review)
If hearing "Nia Vardalos has done it again!" puts a song in your heart, you'll adore "My Life in Ruins" (Fox Searchlight).
But if you were a sour grump who was not bowled over by her monster hit of 2002, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," then her unique style of cotton-ball-soft, sweet but not saccharine, romantic comedy, in which not a lot actually happens before Nia gets her fella, then you'll want to take a pass, or just drop your grandmother at the theater while you're at the mall.
Director Donald Petrie and screenwriter Mike Reiss have duplicated the "Greek Wedding" formula to the letter, replacing that film's passel of eccentric but lovable Greek relatives with a busload of eccentric but lovable tourists.
This time, Nia plays Georgia, a lovelorn, unemployed American professor of classical studies reduced to being a tour guide in Greece until a college teaching job comes along. Alexis Georgoulis is Poupi, the hunky tour bus driver with whom Georgia is destined to fall in love. Richard Dreyfuss as Irv, the lonely, widowed senior in the bunch, is the wisecracking Greek chorus providing counterpoint and occasional advice on Georgia's misadventures
The rest of the tourists fall into type: noisy Americans Big Al and Kim (Harland Williams and Rachel Dratch); uptight Brits, the Tullens (Ian Ogilvy and Kim Goodall), with their 16-year-old daughter (Sophie Stuckey); and so on.
No, not much happens throughout the beautiful travelogue vistas. Mostly, there are practical jokes played on another tour guide, and lots of material about tourists' inclination to love ice cream and shopping more than culture.
The only suspense is when Georgia will embrace the carefree spirit of the Greek islands and find romance with Poupi.
"Stilted" falls short as a description of the cliched dialogue. No one in real life ever talks the way any of these characters do. And it's so free of objectionable elements that it's acceptable for older adolescents who may be dragged to the theater by Vardalos-adoring grandmothers.
If you embrace the story as a fantasy and succumb to Vardalos' effortless charm, you won't mind. It's a big happy feta cheese ball of a movie. The moviemakers know that. They revel in it. Hey, pass the souvlaki!
The film contains a couple of implied premarital encounters and mild sexual banter. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II -- adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic
merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating,
the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief
synopsis of the movie.
The classifications are as follows:
- A-I -- general patronage;
- A-II -- adults and adolescents;
- A-III -- adults;
- A-IV**
- L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
- O -- morally offensive.
** Discontinued classification. All archived movies that were originally in the A-IV category are now classified as L.