Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: My Big Fat Greek Wedding

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Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 06-13-2002, 02:19 PM:

Attendance: 2002/06/11 19:05, Regal Madison Square 12, Huntsville, AL, Auditorium 9, Flat

I wanted to see a movie, but didn't feel like seeing Star Wars II or Spiderman again, so I decided to try something different. My Big Fat Greek Wedding was a nice romantic comedy. Of the approximately 15 people that showed up for this movie, most were older, somewhat fat women. I believe there were only two males in the audience (including me).

If anyone belongs to a rather large family that are always together and in each other lives and business, you'll identify with the thirty-ish year old woman in this movie who falls in love with someone her father does not approve of at first. This woman at the beginning of the movie is rather homely, but she started trying to look better once she started going out with the guy.

This movie was the second comedy I've seen in a month's time that got its laughs by means other than gross-out jokes. About a Boy was an outstanding comedy, and Greek Wedding didn't quite measure up to it, but it was a good comedy that got plenty of laughs from me and the rest of the audience. Some romantic comedies have some sad, depressing stretches, and at some points during the movie, I was afraid that the movie would take a depressing turn, but it didn't. I hope that more comedies like About a Boy and My Big Fat Greek Wedding will be coming down the pike soon.

Nobody I work with had even heard of this movie until I mentioned that I'd seen it, so most people will have no idea what it's about, or that it's even playing.

Presentation: The only defect in the presentation (a rather major one) was the audio. I was sitting back in the stadium section and most of the dialogue seemed to come from the surrounds, which are placed where the walls meet the ceiling (way up). From where I was sitting, it seemed that very little sound was coming from the screen, with most audio coming from "above". Why is it so difficult for this location to get its audio systems calibrated properly?

There was no adjustable screen masking in this auditorium (1.85:1 constant aspect ratio). The movie was flat, so this was not a problem for this particular movie.

------------------
Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Information Site

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 06-13-2002, 05:55 PM:

This movie was fairly entertaining. But it was racist! Imagine if all the Greek people were your average everyday whities and the guy she was marrying was black. People would have torn down the theater when the dad said something along the lines of "My people were writing mythology (or something like that) when your people were still swinging from trees." But since it's just a Greek guy saying it to a white guy, it's just fine and peachy.

I'm not saying that we should all raise holy hell over this, I'm just saying that everyone else is too hard up.

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 06-13-2002, 08:44 PM:

Speaking of the movie being "racist", I wonder what Greeks themselves think of the movie.

One thing I forgot to mention before that bugged me was that they used Greek capital sigmas in place of E's on the title. Sigmas are the equivalent of English S's. There are two E equivalents in Greek: epsilon and eta.

------------------
Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Information Site

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 06-14-2002, 07:45 AM:

Here's a link to the title/poster art that Evans refers to:
http://us.imdb.com/Posters?0259446

Okay, if they mean "My Big Fat GrSSk Wedding"

BTW, I too enjoyed the film when they screened it at ShoWest.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 06-14-2002, 08:14 AM:

I wanted to start this thread earlier but I'm glad Evans did instead.

No, Joe, MBFGW wasn't racist. Yes, it did show a lot of stereotypes -- all Greeks have big happy families, all Greeks own diners or travel agencies, all Greeks love big parties with lots of singing and dancing. Yes, the plot sounded like it came out of Hollywood. (It's actually based on a one-woman show by an actress of Greek descent; she plays the bride.) Yes, Evans, it's drawn a mostly older crowd. Yet . . .

MBFGW is genuinely funny. It opened in New Jersey day-and-date with Manhattan (4/18) and hasn't stopped running since -- even made the national box office top 10! Had it gone through a major MBFGW would have brought in more money yet not lasted as long.

I saw MBFGW at the AMC Hamilton the weekend Spider-Man opened. Would have enjoyed it more if a woman in the row behind me told her 10-year-old daughter to shut up.

Also of note: MBFGW leans arthouse but the AMC Hamilton is running it with trailers for family fare (The Country Bears, Scooby-Doo).

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 06-14-2002, 11:21 PM:

Last month, I was dragged along to a sneak preview of The Sum of All Fears but something got screwed up and it was actually a sneak preview of My Big Fat Greek Wedding (oops); the screening was sponsored by "Greek Boston". After the movie, the two stars were there, and there was a question/answer setting.

The audience was predominantly Greek and nobody was offended by the movie, though lots of people apparently found it close-to-home. Nia Vardalos (who plays Toula and wrote the screenplay) explained that it was based on her life (not just on a one-woman show, but her actual real life), and many of the really funny things were really parts of her life, including the Windex (gotta wonder if they paid Windex or Windex paid them), the house-next-door (in real life they sold it afterwards...), etc.

Racism is in the eye of the beholder, but if the Greeks watching the movie aren't offended (and as a group they don't seem to be), there shouldn't be any cause for concern.

--jhawk

Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 06-17-2002, 04:09 PM:

We did $5670 on My Big Fat Greek Wedding this weekend. So that is an average of 63 people a show for the weekend. We have had it seven weeks. So we are quite happy with it.

Ky and I saw this film at ShoWest this year. We both liked it and knew it would do well at our theatre.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 06-29-2002, 10:32 PM:

I watched it in Aspen last week and it sold out almost every show at the Isis Theatre. Personally I liked it and think it is really a gas! Being fron the Chicago area I can definately say that everything in it is true..... Thats the way they really are. I didn't feel any racist angle to it at all. Joe, Are you Greek?
MArk @ GTS

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-01-2002, 04:00 AM:

No, I'm white! You guys need to learn to read my posts and stop jumping to conclusions. First of all I was discussing the scene where the Greek guy says to the white guy that "your people were still swinging from trees when Greeks were writing philosophy" or something very similar to that. I never said it was racist to Greeks. Please point out where I said that. C'mon people, I know you can read! I know I sound annoyed, but that's because I am. Second of all did you actually think I was trying to raise a huge issue about this particular movie? No! I was just pointing out how society looks the other way when someone says something bad about white people but if something is said about any other race then there is lots of hell to be caught.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 08-06-2002, 04:51 PM:

I just saw "MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING" two weeks ago and enjoyed it very much but I have a question about the sound track. One of the other theatres is advertising the movie as an SRD presentation but the film credits indicates that the movie was released in Dolby SR. The theatre I saw it in played a regular Dolby Stereo sound trailer at the beginning. What kind of track does this movie actually have?

-Claude

Posted by John Scott (Member # 520) on 08-06-2002, 05:13 PM:

Claude:

From the Feature Info And Trailer Attachments forum:

IFC Films (for US)
5 reels -- Flat
SR
Technicolor depot
No attached trailers
Yes, sound is Dolby SR only -- no digital.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 08-06-2002, 05:22 PM:

Thank you, John

-Claude

Posted by Josh Jones (Member # 447) on 08-08-2002, 11:28 AM:

Can verify that as well, our print has a digital studio logo, but the film is SR.

Josh

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-08-2002, 05:51 PM:

Joe,

Don't you know it is polictally correct to be racist against white people? In fact, it isn't even racism. I think the PC term is "intelligent social commentary." Same thing goes for man-bashing female comedians and anyone who has a bad thing to say about Americans in general. Not prejudice at all.

I agree there are big double standards going on. I remember when I was 10 years old living in Japan and having Japanese kids call me "gaijin." I didn't think anything of it until years later when I realized it carries about the same level of badness as a white guy throwing around the "N" word.

Instead of people developing a better sense of humor I think things are going to get worse to the point no one can speak freely about anything without fear of getting someone else's panties in a bunch.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 08-08-2002, 07:33 PM:

Yes, I also forget that only white people can be racist and only men can be sexist.

I have heard that Japan is probably one of the most racist nations in the world, however. I love Japan and would like to go there someday, but from what I have seen they do think they are superior to just about everybody. Of course you can't say that about ALL of them, but just the nation as a group. However I hear that they are always very polite and you'd never know if they were racist or not where you there. I think the idea that Japan thinking they are superior is interesting given the fact that they are so fascinated by American culture and the like. Of course you could always embrace "Gaijin" the same way some black people throw around the N word!

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-08-2002, 09:40 PM:

The thing about the word "gaijin" is it doesn't seem so bad on the surface like the racial slurs commonly heard in America. But if you understand Japanese culture, "the group" is everything. Loosely translated, gaijin means outsider --or someone not on the team and not exactly welcome to join either. The term is applied to people seen as having no value or honor.

In Japan, there is a great deal of pressure to not just be accepted as part of the team, but you have to work hard to better the team (and your standing aboard it). Japan has struggled with a high suicide rate from pressures to excel academically and in business. Individuality is frowned upon in Japanese culture. If you are going to make waves, you have to do it through the many layers of the system.

Some of it kind of reminds me of the "good ol' boys network" we have screwing up business in America, except it just seems to work on a more sophisticated and subtle level. And things can crash. The current good old boys network scandals with Enron, Worldcom and others remind me of the Japanese banking scandals of years before.

Anyway, I got off on a tangent. Essentially, anyone can be bigoted scumbag targeting others based on skin color, gender, religion, nationality, speaking accent, etc., etc., etc.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 08-08-2002, 11:55 PM:

As a third generation Japanese American, I know for a fact that the word GAIJIN is not a racist word but means FOREIGNER. Just before I sat down in front of my computer to write this post, I asked my 83 year old Japanese speaking mother if Gaijin was a derogatory word applied to a foreigner and she said no. I do however agree that some Japanese can put themselves above other people and consider themselves vastly superior and this is definitely racist behavior. On the other hand, the Japanese can be very polite and if you are a guest they will go out of their way to treat you like a king or a queen. I was once a guest of the Professional Photographers of Japan when they invited me to lecture in three major cities by paying me a very generous fee and all of my expenses. On top of all of this, they showered me with lavish gifts and made sure that I stayed at their finest hotels, dined at their best restaurants and entertained me at their best cabarets and theatres. Beleive me when I tell you how difficult it was to adapt to a normal life after I left Japan.

-Claude

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 08-09-2002, 12:36 PM:

My Japanese colleagues (including many from Fuji) were very gracious hosts when I spent a memorable two weeks in Japan participating in the ISO/TC36 film standards conference and conducting training seminars in 1991. Likewise, I have had the privilege of hosting many Japanese customers when they visit Kodak in Rochester.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 09-02-2002, 09:17 PM:

09/02/2002, Cinemark 17, Springfield OR, 4:55PM, #13, Dolby SR. OK presentation. Image was kind of jumpy vertically. Attendance about 250.

I finally had to check this out to see for myself what all the "buzz" is about. Some observations... This was a near-sellout crowd, despite the fact that MBFGW has been showing in Eugene now almost since it first came out (May?) (it started at the Bijou art house, then Cinemark picked it up a couple weeks ago). The majority of the audience seemed to be made up of middle-age or older people who rarely go to movies. The crowd REALLY enjoyed this -- the laughter was almost non-stop and sometimes you couldn't hear the next line or 2 of dialog over the laughing. The word-of-mouth on this movie has to be incredibly strong, and it seems to be drawing a crowd that probably doesn't much appreciate most of the more "contemporary" comedies aimed at younger audiences. In other words, the film targets an audience that's probably starved for product like this.

I enjoyed it. It's a nice little film with no special effects, no big name stars, minimal budget, yet it works because you like & identify with the characters. Very simple. I imagine all the big studios are trying to figure out how to replicate this now, and we'll see a bunch of MBFGW knockoffs over the next year, and most of them won't have the heart or "magic" or whatever this movie has. Sometimes good shit just happens and there's no recipe you can use to duplicate it over and over. Congratulations to the makers of this movie on its success and to the theaters who've had good runs with it.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 09-03-2002, 01:40 PM:

I enjoyed "MBFGW" at ShoWest with Ian Price and Ky Boyd, and I agree that a good story, well told, can be a real winner. Ian and Ky were sure they wanted to play it then and there, and it's been a real success story for them and hundreds of other theatres.

Posted by David Koegel (Member # 25) on 09-06-2002, 08:35 AM:

I just watched this movie in -- of all places -- an airplane, so I won't even try to get into presentation quality. (I'm not even sure that American West's sound distribution system via headset is in stereo.) But in watching this movie, with the accents all over the place, I could have just as easily thought that most of the movie was dealing with an Italian family ... at least a Sicilian one.

My mom's full-blooded Sicilian, and I remember from my childhood the holiday gatherings being a lot like those seen in the movie. Even today, when an "outsider" joins in during a holiday meal, it can be quite overwhelming for them. To them, we are all shouting at each other. What they don't know is that he who shouts the loudest not only gets heard but is the "winner" of the discussion -- at least at that point in time. To an outsider, everyone comes across as rather rude, interrupting each other. To us, we are just having a normal conversation. While loud, it's not an indication of anger at all.

And if you wait for a pause in the conversation to get in your two-cent's worth, you'll be waiting for a very long time.

As for the movie, I loved it ... as did my mom

Posted by Josh Jones (Member # 447) on 09-06-2002, 09:13 PM:

We've had this film for 3 weeks now, it played the plex and bombed. We picked it up, and business keeps getting better every night. Our biggest show last week was 272!! We can actually afford to fix things again

Josh

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 09-06-2002, 09:19 PM:

One of the coolest things that happens in this business sometimes is when the public decides on its own that a film is good and word of mouth takes over and it turns into a big success, without a bunch of advertising or marketing. Just the opposite of what often happens: We're told by marketing hacks and phony critics on opening weekend that a film is good, then we spend our $$ and find out otherwise... I'm doing contract work for a game developer right now, and MBFGW has been the topic of much discussion amongst us. Not because it would make a good video game, but because it's an entertainment that's caught on with the public and is raking in a lot of money. What every game developer dreams will happen with their next release...

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 09-06-2002, 11:25 PM:

"MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING" is being compared to another independent film "THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT" for the huge amount of money it had made despite it's very small production cost. As far as I am concerned. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT" was just a big pile of

and it only made a lot of money because of the fantastic way it was sold to the public with sleek full page ads and favorable reviews by many critics who did not have nice things to say about "--GREEK WEDDING". "THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT---" made it's money very quickly with a wide release playing in thousands of theatres at the same time but lost it's audience as soon as people learned what a piece of

it was. "---GREEK WEDDING" opened in only one theatre in Honolulu about two months ago and it is now in seven theatres including the Ward 16 which only opened the picture today. In my opinion, I felt cheated after seeing "THEBLAIR WITCH PROJECT" and was very disgusted how I was manipulated by the sleek ads and favorable reviews. I only saw "--GREEK WEDDING" because of the good things my friends were saying anout it after they saw the movie, After viewing the film, I too have been urging others to see it. "MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING" might be on it's way to make box office history as being the first picture to become the top money making picture of the week by starting backward at #20 and moving up to 2nd place this week and possibly first place by next week.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-07-2002, 02:14 AM:

This movie continues to kick ass and grow each week in attendance. Maybe it has something to do with the new MBFGW videogame recently released by Konami which puts the player in an old castle with a whip. Or perhaps its the new Burger King tie-in. Or the new slick web site that you can only view if you have Flash 5 installed. Maybe it is the constant advertising on TV with lots of great quotes from the critics. Could be the soundtrack with tunes "inspired by" the major motion picture. It could possibly be the new action figures recently released as well.

What? The movie is this successful because of "word of mouth"? Nooooo..... you can't sell a movie on that.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 09-07-2002, 04:19 AM:

Joe,

I am very sorry to differ with you but the majority of people who saw the movie with me about a month ago were at least in ther forties and older and way beyond the age of video games and Burger King tie ins. A lot of people in this age group are also not into surfing the net so I doubt very many were influenced by fancy websites promoting this film. Yes, older people do watch a lot of TV and if they first heard about how good "MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING" is by a critic, this is another form of 'word of mouth' because unlike advertising, the critics were not paid to render a favorable opinion of the movie. The only way a video game and fast food restaurant promotion can influence a film's success is for the movie to go into wide distribution by a major studio. "MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING"is a independent film and none of the majors showed any interest in releasing it. If this was the attitude of the major studios, what makes you think any fast food restaurant and video game producer would be interested in this film? If there are video games and fast food promos that are now tied in with "MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING", it was only due to the success of the movie and not the other way around. The movie opened first in art houses and it was only due to the word of mouth from people who saw it first that had made me want to see this film. Yes, it was only due to people enjoying the film and spreading the good word that made "MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING" a success.

-Claude

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-08-2002, 11:59 AM:

Claude-

My entire post above was a Big Fat Joke Post. I was trying to take the attitude that most studios have when it comes to promoting movies.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 09-08-2002, 04:49 PM:

Joe,

You got me!

I am wondering what all the studio heads are thinking when they realized they passed on a vey good thing with "MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING". At least Artisen Entertainment realized there was a lot of potential with "THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT" after the film did well at the Sundance Film Festival and ran with it and made millions!

-Claude

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 09-15-2002, 07:48 PM:

When I saw Greek Wedding at the AMC Hamilton it was a "second choice" picture for me. Now that this movie is a mainstream hit I decided to see it again as a "first choice".

Reading Cinemas in Manville NJ got Greek Wedding back on 8/23. It's been playing in one of the giant-size (350+ seat) halls for its current run. This Friday night Greek Wedding drew 250+ to the 8:15 PM show: women, older couples, a good number of high school girls. Fun show, fun night!

Yes, we Jersey people can relate to all the big-haired women. "Jersey Girls" were known for big hair all through the 80's. Not only that, Greek Wedding works as a kind of "female empowerment" movie.

Yes, we Jersey people can relate to Dancing Zorba's. Greeks own most if not all the diners along the Jersey highways.

It doesn't hurt that Reading is the only theater playing Greek Wedding within a 30-minute drive from Manville.

Claude: Greek Wedding was co-financed by HBO -- a division of AOL Time Warner. Also, Lions Gate once had the worldwide theatrical rights to Greek Wedding but gave them back because Lions Gate doesn't have the TV/video rights (HBO does).

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 10-06-2002, 12:52 AM:

Saw BFGW at the Larry Miller Gateway 12 Cinemas tonight in Salt Lake City. Absolutely amazing.....the house was almost full on this film that has been playing for 20 plus weeks now. The film was also still in great shape with only very minor wear, and picture and sound quality was excellent as well. All they need there is Film-Guard mounted on the projectors and the little bit of black snow that was there would not have been at all. All in all a 3 and a half star presentation, and the best presentation I've seen at a SLC theatre so far. Keep up the good work!!
Mark

Posted by Brad Haven (Member # 954) on 10-20-2002, 11:58 PM:

I really enjoyed this film, i found it to be sincere and funny (unlike bend it like beckham

) and it wasn't too badly made!
It really is great when these films come up, we are really grateful to have the fremantle exclusive on this one, me thinks we'll have this one till xmas atleast (2 screens), we've had people banging on our doors for almost 2 months wanting to see this film (opens oct 24).

I find nothing more enjoyable than standing at the back of the cinema with a big audience and hearing the roars of laughter with people swaying in their seats and holding on to their bladders.

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 10-21-2002, 01:22 AM:

According to the Boxoffice Magazine website, it has grossed 159 million as of last weekend.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 10-21-2002, 10:43 AM:

27 weeks, $169.3M domestic gross. If you think of it in terms of boxoffice "legs", MBFGW beats just about everything this year. Still on 2 screens locally and going strong.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 10-21-2002, 01:11 PM:

I predict "MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING" will end it's theatrical run by making about 200 million dollars or close to it. The amazing thing about this film is the money it will make when the DVD is released. It should gross much more than it's theatrical run unlike the other very successful undependent film "THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT" which "MBFGW" overcame about two weeks ago at the boxoffice. "BWP" was a pile of

and it's video sales never amounted to very much.

-Claude

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 10-31-2002, 03:36 PM:

The Clairidge Cinema in Montclair NJ opened My Big Fat Greek Wedding on 4/19 -- day-and-date with Manhattan. After 28 big weeks this unlikely hit ends today at the Clairidge and moves tomorrow to the nearby Bellevue Cinema in Upper Montclair.

Greek Wedding also ends today at the UA East Hampton on Long Island NY after 17 weeks and 2 days.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 11-01-2002, 06:00 PM:

Greek Wedding is now in 6th place on the 2002 box office $$ list, closing in on MIB-II in 5th place: here It's ironic that everything above and below it opened huge, while GW had a very small opening, yet is finishing very big. As a point of reference, Greek Wedding is still doing more per week than Pluto Nash did in its entire run.

And as Claude pointed out, this is probably going to be HUGE on home video.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 11-03-2002, 10:49 PM:

"MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING" has so far made 185.2 million as of this past weekend and with it's average weekly gross of 5 million, it will now easily hit the 200 million mark as I had predicted the other day. If the film can earn a little more than 200 million in the theatres, the DVD and video sales will be much more than twice that amount. I know, I will be buying a copy on DVD and cannot wait for it to be released.

-Claude

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 12-10-2002, 09:09 AM:

We've had this for months now at the 6-plex art-house and it continues to do amazing business.

I finally saw the whole thing last weekend when I ran it for a local college (where it more than sold out; they had people sitting in the aisles...the fire marshall would not have been amused). Anyway, I was generally unimpressed with this and am at a loss to understand why it has done such great business. It basically looked like a "movie of the week" or something that my mom would watch if it happened to be on TV. The acting was a bit over-the-top and the story deviated little from the dozens of other movies that have the same theme. I just don't get why this was such a big hit when compared with some of the better art/crossover titles of the last year (Y Tu Mama Tambien, Far from Heaven, Nine Queens, Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, Igby Goes Down, Kid Stays in the Picture, etc.).

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 12-10-2002, 10:51 AM:

I tend to agree with Scott's comments: I don't really get it myself either. But I swear, the audience I saw it with, which was mostly middle-aged and older couples, LOVED it. People were laughing hysterically at things I found only mildly amusing myself. For whatever reason, this film really hits home with a certain audience, so I will be the last one to knock its success. [Smile]

It's still running a full set of daily shows at Regal, and an evening show at Cinemark here.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-11-2002, 02:59 PM:

I don't see how anyone could not love MBFGW, after all this is probably one of the greatest action adventure movies ever! The Dolby Digital track is superb, especially the massive tank scene near the end. We've already had to replace blown subs three times just because of this scene. The gratuitous amount of full frontal nudity keeps the guys coming back. I am actually surprised that they showed penetration in a PG movie! But the scene where Arnold makes a cameo at the wedding and blows up the terrorists is what I think keeps the movie going strong (pun intended).

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 12-11-2002, 04:57 PM:

The tank sequence in this movie sucked ass. Way too much CGI. Obviously Joe hasn't seen the one in Frida, which was much more realistic. [Smile]

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-11-2002, 09:59 PM:

Well how good do you expect the CGI to be for a measly 5 million bucks? Hell it cost Brad 3 million just for that "Film-Tech Forums" logo at the top of the screen.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 12-12-2002, 08:40 AM:

I don`t think the tank scene was CGI at all. I think it was shot in stop-motion with models. If you look closely, you can see the hand of the animator in one or two places very briefly.

Posted by Greg Mueller (Member # 17) on 12-13-2002, 02:00 PM:

I saw this on the plane between LA and Sydney. Glad I didn't actually pay to see it. It was amusing but that's about it.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 12-13-2002, 02:14 PM:

Actually, I found it not very interesting either. My opinion is the exact opposite from Brad`s who liked this but didn`t like "Bend It Like Beckham" which I liked very much.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-30-2002, 03:05 PM:

Okay, I haven't seen this flick. I've read through 3 pages of comments now and no one has mentioned this yet. So, what's this "FAT" part... what's FAT about it? Are fat people being dissed in this movie, along with the Greeks? [Razz]

Btw, they own diners in Allentown, too, those Greeks! (I lika da juice!) And I purely LOVE Cincy Skyline Chili, a Greek receipe. [Smile]

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 12-30-2002, 03:23 PM:

quote:
So, what's this "FAT" part... what's FAT about it? Are fat people being dissed in this movie, along with the Greeks?

the fat here refers to the impending size of the wedding.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-14-2003, 01:31 AM:

We finally got to play this movie. I too am baffled at its popularity. I mean, it's pretty good, but I don't understand the absolute hysterics people are going into. I mean, they're going nuts!

I guess it's because people like a movie that is funny without insulting their intelligence.

Whatever it is, I don't care...it's putting lotsa butts in the seats, so what do I know! [Big Grin]

[ 01-15-2003, 06:22 PM: Message edited by: Mike Blakesley ]

Posted by Chris Markiewicz (Member # 1415) on 01-14-2003, 06:02 PM:

We get it Jan. 24. Hope the print is OK.

Posted by Dino Panagiotopoulos (Member # 1579) on 01-25-2003, 10:40 PM:

This film is basically my life story on the big screen except for the fact that Im dating a Greek girl...........dont think ive ever run across Windex being the miracle cure for anything though. [Confused]

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-11-2003, 03:10 PM:

From what I saw at the Circuit City store near me this morning, the DVD sales of "MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING" is going to be HUGE! The DVD was advertised at $14.95 and less than ten minutes after the store opened, all copies were gone. There were people with multiple copies in their hands. One person must have had at least a dozen copies. To be fair to everyone, I think the store should have set a one or two minimum per person on this hot title. I have been first in line at this store many times when other popular titles went on sale for the first time and I have never seen anything like this before. There was a rush for "SPIDERMAN" a few months ago but they were still a lot of copies on the shelves when I left forty five minutes after the store opened.

I watched a few scenes on my computer monitor when I came home and the images looked good. It was not as good as other mainstream movies but with a five million production budget, I was not expecting very much.

-Claude

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 02-11-2003, 04:36 PM:

Dino,
katalavaino apo to onoma sou oti k`essei eissai ellinas. Eine i zoi ton ellinon sto neo kosmo aleithia san afti tainia?

Posted by Dino Panagiotopoulos (Member # 1579) on 02-12-2003, 03:07 PM:

Just picked up my copy of the DVD yesterday. Very well put together in my opinion. Nice to see a 5.1 track on there. Is it me or is the widescreen version just cropped a little too much?

One thing that made me wanna toss the CD out the window was the windex commercial that played right before the feature starts. [Mad]

I know it was a funny joke and all but I doubt they needed the cash that badly to go throw that in and ruin the DVD. Felt like I was actually at the show with 20 commercials running before you get to the trailers.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-12-2003, 11:19 PM:

Dino,

I was wondering the same thing when I watched parts of the movie after I saw "WASABI" starring Jean Reno last night. After viewing parts of "MBFGW" in 'widescreen', I watched the same scenes in the open matte version and I liked that better. Although I prefer to see films at home in the original aspect ratio, the majority of the public prefers full screen. I can see how terrible a film that was shot with a anamorphic lens can look on a full television screen but situations like the "MBFGW" video transfer actually weaken the debate for people like us who prefer to see films in their original theatrical projection ratio.

-Claude

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 02-13-2003, 04:02 AM:

I just watched "Wasabi" too. The DVD I had was in 1:2,35. Wasn`t "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" 1:1,85?
Did you have "Wasabi" dubbed in English or did you see the original French version?

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-13-2003, 04:35 AM:

Michael,

The Region One version of "WASABI" came with both English dubbed and original French soundtracks. I watched it in French with English subtitles which in my opinion is the only way to watch films. After watching the movie in the original lanquage, I checked out the English dubbing and it sucked. There was no life to the way people spoke in the movie. The ironic thing about the way this DVD is programmed is the language menu. When you put the disc in the player and press play, it will automatically play in English. I have noticed that the trailer is in French with English subtitles and voice over. Both the Beginning and end credits are in French.

-Claude

Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 02-17-2003, 08:30 PM:

I finally saw this flick. I have been so unempressed with Hollywod these past years that I ASSUMED that this would be a "Lifetime Television For Women Movie"!

God how I was wrong, and am only sorry that I did not see it sooner!

I can quite easily understand why many of you were not impressed by, or did not understand this film. It is hard to, unless one has been raised around this old-world ethenic enviornment!

This film could easily be retitled as My Big Fat Jewish/Italian Wedding!

Many of you might think that this film is a gross exageration, politically incorrect or racist...but it is not!

I about busted a nut laughing during this film. I swear that the Bride's father was the spittin image of my Mom's father!

When I told my Mom that I had finally seen it, her response was "Nu?, so did you recognize your Mother in the film!?"

I do love Mein Yiddish Mome, but when she gets to be tooo much, I threaten her with my l.p. recording of Gertrude Berg in How To Be A Jewish Mother [Big Grin]

!

But I do love the scene where the Bride's Mother tells her daughter about the hardships of the old country and how they came to America to find a better life...so they celebrate life...and their fortunes and maybe get a little too meshugga in the process...oh well, life is too short...

Viewed at Century Gateway in Tucson (now a second run theatre).
Century projectors and soundheads, Neumade consoles and platters.

The print was a mess. Out of time shutter causing a decent amount of flicker and eyestrain!

Posted by Dino Panagiotopoulos (Member # 1579) on 02-18-2003, 04:07 PM:

quote:
I can quite easily understand why many of you were not impressed by, or did not understand this film. It is hard to, unless one has been raised around this old-world ethenic enviornment!

Will, you put it perfectly. I dont know how many times ive been told his by people who think this movie is stupid or just didnt understand the "inside boater" jokes. Everytime I watch this film it reminds me of how proud I am to be Greek. Every single part of that movie is very true to what my life is like every single day (except windex. Last time I checked my dad used that on windows). I wouldnt expect anyone that wasnt Greek to relate to this film and thats why it makes everyone so different and diverse. I really dont think this film was made to spark a philosophical debate or to really incite any racial conflicts. The reason why this film did so well is not because of the fact that Greeks are the best (but I wouldnt argue hehe). It was successful because it was a change from the movies that were getting thrown at us everyday. Sex, violence, blood, and vulgar language were not made a part of this film and thats a big part of it. Also, it helped people escape the realities that were around us in this sometimes horrible world. For these reasons I dont think anyone can complain about this film being successful. Any ethnic backround could have been used. It just so happened that the Greeks were the punchline for this film.

Being Greek, it would seem appropriate that I could never get enough of this. The problem is that I am. It was great and everything but once the talk started about a new show debuting this sunday and all this, I believe it should have stopped with the movie because theyre just going to ruin a good thing. Theres plenty of new "ethnic" movies coming out from Bollywood like The Guru, and Hollywood Bollywood. Both very good films.

Sorry about the rant but I was kind of getting tired of people saying that the film was politically incorrect and some kind of Greek propaganda [Confused]

. Thats my two cents worth.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 02-18-2003, 04:18 PM:

It wasn't that I didn't like the movie. I did. I just didn't completely "get it". HOWEVER, most of the rest of the audience I saw it with thought it was hysterically funny. The movie was a huge hit, driven mostly by word-of-mouth. Obviously it struck a chord with a LOT of people. That's good enough for me. [Big Grin]

As for the TV spinoff, it will probably fail. But the makers could not turn down the opportunity to make lots more money. More power to them if they capture the film's magic, but based on history, it's unlikely that they'll succeed.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 02-18-2003, 05:33 PM:

I didn`t get it either. Strange, because I had a Greek girlfriend for years. But the Greeks I met were not at all like the people in the movie.
I guess the Greek immigrants in North America have developed a different lifestyle from the ones who live here, as they are much farther away from their origin.
One thing I did recognise though: Greek people will tell you all the time how most words come from the Greek language.

Posted by Dino Panagiotopoulos (Member # 1579) on 02-19-2003, 01:41 AM:

My apologies Dave.
I didnt mean it that these comments were coming from people on the forum which they never did. I usually heard this stuff from people in my town which happens to be a VERY multicultural and diverse city. Just a smaller version of Toronto. Most of these comments usually came from my Italian and Serbian friends who were just a little jealous that theyre backround wasn't getting all the rave and attention (j/k) [Smile]

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 02-19-2003, 07:23 AM:

BTW, wasn`t your town the one portrayed in Bowling for Columbine? Where nobody locks his door and people don`t shoot each other.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 02-19-2003, 11:13 AM:

MBFGW is still playing in a theatre here, even with the DVD being released. Now I call that "Legs"! [Cool]

Posted by Dino Panagiotopoulos (Member # 1579) on 02-19-2003, 11:21 AM:

We lost our last print on thursday right after it was released on DVD. Played every week straight since Aug 16.

Yes Micheal, that would be my town that was in Bowling for Columbine. It is true what they say that the last gun murder was sometime in the eighties (Funny that the guy who committed the murder escaped from a halfway house on thursday). Not a bad number for a big city thats close to 300 thousand population. Not sure how many people dont lock their doors though. My doors are double locked every night. It is a VERY much safer place to live than our neighboring country to the south. I know because I was born there and lived there for a few years (and im there at least twice a week). Micheal Moore did a great job in exposing the truth about our two countries but thats for another post. Now if any of our neighbors like to ridicule Canada (which they always like to do), ill just refer them to the nearest video store and tell them to check out a film called Bowling For Columine.

Posted by Chad Calpito (Member # 1562) on 02-20-2003, 02:58 PM:

I have to agree with Charles about My Big Fat Greek Wedding with regards about the movie not being racist. The movie was fantastic and funny. The movie was great when I saw in the theater and it was even funnier when I saw it on Hawaiian Airlines when I was flying to Honolulu, Hawaii. But, everyone is entitled to their opinions of what they think of a particular movie.

When I was running the movie, it was being run in Dolby SR. I didn't notice any Digital Tracks on the film.

Chad

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-20-2003, 03:51 PM:

Chad,

"MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING" was released in Dolby SR in theatres but the DVD is said to have a Dolby 5.1 soundtrack. I have watched the DVD and enjoyed it again but the sound on the disc was almost exactly like it sounded in the theatre. I felt that the image on the DVD was better than the theatrical presentation, however.

By the way, I hope you had a good time when you visited my state recently.

-Claude

Posted by Chad Calpito (Member # 1562) on 02-20-2003, 04:21 PM:

I certainly did have fun visiting Hawaii. It was great and I will be doing it again soon this year. I do agree with you that My Big Fat Greek Wedding was released in Dolby SR since it did not come in any digital format. The movie was originally shown on a small screen, but, the theater management and I decided it needed to be shown on our largest screen in theater #11 since sold out shows made it quite obvious that it was a dumb decision to place in our smallest house. Anyway, thanks for your input Claude.

Chad

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-25-2003, 03:09 AM:

I was thinking about starting a new thread about the the new TV sitcom on the hit movie "MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING" that aired tonight on CBS but decided to put in my two cents here. First of all, I was looking forward to the television series because the theatrical film was one of my favorites last year and I have been enjoying the DVD very much. The new program in my humble opinion SUCKS big time! All the charm that was in the movie was missing tonight. It took me only five minutes to dislike the show. First of all, the new actor playing the husband looks too young and does not have that scholarly mannerism John Corbett had in the film. The worse part about the show was when the couple finds out after they returned from their honemoon that Toula's father had bought them a hose as a wedding present. Didnt they receive a deed to a house as a gift at their wedding reception in the original movie? Another annoying thing was some of the names has been changed including Toula who is now known by the actress/producer's real name, Nia. The house in the movie next to mom and dad's is now across the street from the restaurant and when Toula/Nia saw the house, she appeared very shocked. THe show is terrible but the very annoying laugh tracks makes it even worse.

I think Nia Vardalos made a terrible mistake when she turned a wonderful film into a bad television sit com instead of a theatrical sequel. I am sure with her writing ability, sho could have written another wonderful script and made another hit movie.
She can still do it but with the aftertaste of a bad TV series, I honestly feel the movie will not be as successful as the first one.

-Claude

[ 02-25-2003, 11:44 AM: Message edited by: Claude S. Ayakawa ]

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 02-26-2003, 10:48 AM:

I was also disappointed by the MBFGL television production. The laugh track was an annoying distraction. Nia Vardalos is an excellent scriptwriter, but evidently had to turn over most of the writing of the weekly show to others. The cast is still charming --- let's hope they can regain the charm of the movie itself.

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 02-26-2003, 06:22 PM:

This unfortunately happens all to often with TV spin-offs and movie sequels. Wht made the film unique was the way all elements coming together happened to mesh just right. A good surpise. But trying to duplicate this rarely works, because it robs this unioque mix in the first place.

Posted by Ray Brown (Member # 1449) on 02-26-2003, 09:03 PM:

quote:
The new program in my humble opinion SUCKS big time! All the charm that was in the movie was missing tonight.

Movie spin offs are usually [bs]

. I can't recall any other spin off ever being sucessfull except for M*A*S*H.

Edit: I just looked over at IMDB to see what other viewers had to say about the Greek Wedding spin off:
Greek Life Comments
I think I'll pass on this one....

Posted by Mitchell Cope (Member # 32) on 02-26-2003, 11:11 PM:

What I understand is that the TV show was a "rejected" CBS project before the movie became a hit. CBS obviously reconsidered their decision.

The laugh track is bad. It doesn't even sound real. Nia Vardalos tried to have the laugh track removed, but CBS insisted on having it. Has there been a recent sitcom without one? Seems like the stars on M.A.S.H. made an issue on this decades ago. Things just never change.

I thought the TV show (after the so-so first five minutes) started to show some genuine charm when all the rich family characters became involved. Monday nights would be an ideal slot for this show in the CBS lineup. Teamed with "Becker" on Sunday nights, however, this show could easily tank.

Posted by Peter Berrett (Member # 672) on 04-18-2003, 02:31 AM:

Saw the film on DVD last night.

The film is charming and has genuine warmth although it gets a little slow towards the end.

I think the secret of the film is that a lot of people can identify with coming from a dysfunctional family and/or feeling like they don't fit in society. And there are plenty of people with low self esteem who have felt like the lead character in the film.

I wonder what they will do for a sequel? My Big Fat Greek Divorce perhaps?

cheers Peter