Laughing is a good thing.
Brought to you by hopeless romantics Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson, My Life in Ruins is a love-affair for all things Greek. Enjoy the bumpy ride, and remember to laugh; OPA!
Georgia (Nia Vardalos) is a professor without a class, convincing herself that living in Greece and applying to university after university to realize her dream is a fool’s errand. Still, she dons her paisley blue blazer and refuses to admit defeat, hoping that the gods will someday smile on her and grant her a chance to share her knowledge and passion for Greece with like-minded souls . . . not dolts with visions of souvenirs swimming in their heads. So, she has to earn those euros and wear a pretty smile while dealing with her passionless life.
Always receiving the bad bunch of tourists (as if there is a degree of crappy tourist) Georgia is determined to educate her flock of feebles whether they like it or not. She knows what to expect, each tourist type is accounted for in her miserable “Group B”. There is the tipsy Aussie couple, the Americans, the Old People, the dysfunctional, dissatisfied British duo with cranky teenage daughter in tow, and my favorite the Spanish divorcees. But, initially missing from her equation is the Funny Guy (a man who thinks he is funnier than he actually is) Irv (Richard Dreyfuss) who changes her life and reminds her that you can’t plan your life.
Georgia has the misfortune of always getting the bad tour groups, never realizing that she is to blame for her inability to stoke a fire and love of Greece in these maroons from afar. Georgia is constantly battling the simple-minded saps of other lands, hell-bent on fitting into their stereotypes with annoying lines too lame to repeat in writing.
The comedy was slow to develop and forced at times, with silly names like Poupi Kakka and Doudi Kakka delivered to arouse chuckles, you get the idea. Still, this wasn’t an out and out goofy comedy, but character acting made for most of the humor throughout. You won’t be reciting lines from this one to your friends the next day, but, you will remember the flamboyant performances of several of the stereotypes. There are some interesting cameos in the film that should get your attention and some of the character’s idiosynchracies are chuckle-able, just barely.
It wasn’t a bad film, but it wasn’t great either. I got pretty much what I was expecting, there were some heart-warming and romantic scenes that seemed to be the main point of the story, but unlike a visit to Greece (for me) the path was painfully predictable. Women will no doubt need an oil change after some of the steamier scenes with Alexis Georgoulis, whose name is close enough to gorgeous to be, well, ridiculous!
You should save this one for renting, unless you are Greek (or a wannabe), in which case seeing some of the more dynamic cinematography and compelling shots of Greece is worth seeing it on the big screen.
