I just finished reviewing “The Rules of Attraction”, and it surprised me how many more positive comments there were on this movie than on this one. It also surprised me to see that most of the negative reviews of this movie were talking about how they were “bored” by this movie, or that Nia Vardalos is “ugly”, or that this movie is reserved to “women” or “elderly people”. ‘.
Granted, this movie has very little sex, violence, or MTV editing, but it does what most movies try to do and fail to do; creates an engaging story with interesting characters. however, it’s sad to see that this quality apparently doesn’t have much value anymore and people can’t handle humor that isn’t shoved in their face or isn’t there on the surface.
The ironic thing is that MBFGW isn’t even that innovative or unique. it takes the normal three-act romantic comedy structure and, well, de-Hollywoodizes it a bit. yeah, the main characters aren’t typical Hollywood. (well, John Corbett is…) but you probably aren’t either. and all these people commenting that it’s “racist” or “stereotypical”… Nia Vardalos, the writer, IS GREEK! this film is adapted from her one woman show! it’s interesting that “ethnic” films have to take, what, a documentary form or something to seem authentic? if something is racist, sure.
It’s great that 11,000 people voted for this film and that it made so many dollars. even though ultimately it’s just a “better” romantic comedy that stays in the can most of the time, it IS indeed better than most films and its popularity gives me hope that “boring” films with “ugly” people may have a chance with the late jaded people of middle America.
