COMEDY; 1hr 34min
STARRING: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett
Agony aunt: Vardalos (right) with Andrea Martin as Aunt Voula
Fourteen years have rolled by since they cut loose on cinema screens, yet no time seems to have passed for Chicago's tightly entwined Portokalos clan. Toula and Ian (Vardalos and Corbett) are still married. The family restaurant is still standing. And the sprawling family is still in everybody's faces. "We see no difference between hugging and suffocation," the sweetly obliging, dismay-prone Toula notes in her opening voice-over.
So there it is. Some things have changed, though, and not for the better. Toula and Ian have let their spark slide. Their 17-year-old daughter, Paris (Elena Kampouris), is sullen and distant. And after 50 years together, Toula's parents, Maria and Gus (Lainie Kazan and Michael Constantine), have marital woes of their own.
Screenwriter Vardalos knows her onions and her audience: Greek the first was a monster smash and she and director Kirk Jones (What to Expect When You're Expecting) aren't messing with its fruity recipe. No joke is too broad, no problem is unsolvable, no Greek stereotype is restrained and family is the ever-lovin' charm. And that would be the rest of it. Brash, transparent and brimful with heart.
