My Big Fat Greek Wedding

A massive box office hit that earned nearly $370 million against its $5m budget in 2002, MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING became a comedy phenomenon.

It's the second most profitable film of all time, even though it never hit number one in any week of its 52+ weeks in wide release!

Tom Hanks wife, Rita Wilson has seen Nia Vardalos one woman stage show of the same name and suggested that their production company, Play Tone, produce a film adaption.

Good eye, Rita.

It's easy to see why this became such a feel good, laugh filled hit.

Vardalos is winning as Toula, a 30 year old Greek woman still living at home with her family and driving in with her father Gus Portokalos (played to perfection by Michael Constantine of "The Hustler") to their Greek restaurant seven days a week.

All her many, funny, crazy cousins have done the right thing in Gus's eyes. They all married Greek boys and made Greek babies. To say he is immersed in their culture would miss the hilarious, absolute commitment Gus has to his homeland.

Vardalos' Toula wants more than her job at the restaurant. She enrolls in college, finds that she's got a great knack for computers and starts working at her Aunt Voula's travel agency. The fantastic Andrea Martin, plays Voula as a tornado of a modern woman, dressed to the nines and armed with an incredible wit.

I've been fortunate enough to see Martin in the original Broadway casts of "Young Frankenstein" and the last "Pippin" revival, where she blew the absolute doors off the theater. She brings the same spark here.

One day, Voula meets Ian Miller (John Corbett), a tall dark and handsome high school teacher. He's got everything going for him except one thing. He's not Greek.

What follows is a classic class of cultures, played to the nines by this exceptional cast, playing fully fleshed out characters that Vardalos has carefully crafted based on her own family.

She knows these people, and by the end of the film, we do too.

Lainie Kazan delivers plenty of laugh out loud moments as Toula's mom, Maria. A dedicated wife who wields a lot of power with Gus, even if he doesn't know it.

Louis Mandylor (Rambo: Last Blood) is very funny as Toula's brother, Nick, delivering lines like "I've never seen my sister this happy, Ian. If you hurt her, I'll kill you and make it look like an accident."

Gia Carides (Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me) steals every scene she's in as Toula's sexy cousin Nikki.

Vardalos takes a traditional romantic tale, douses it with Greek pride and creates a film with genuine heart along with generous laughs.

Fans of PlayTone's other big comedy hit "That Thing You Do!" might recognize the song "All My Only Dreams" from that 1996 hit.

"I had to go to Greek school, where I learned valuable lessons such as, "If Nick has one goat and Maria has nine, how soon will they marry?"

Grab your Windex and settle in for a good time. MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING gets a laugh filled B+

Followed 14 years later by MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2.