My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is here, but is it really worth the wait?

Can you believe we’ve waited 14 years for this?

It’s been 14 years since My Big Fat Greek Wedding burst onto screens and made us all wish we had Greek Dad’s that carried around emergency bottles of Windex. Or that John Corbett would sweep us off our feet, we’re not picky.

But, and, please excuse me for saying this, what the hell took so long? Was writer, producer and lead actress Nia Vardalos waiting patiently for the child actress who played her daughter on screen to physically age into a teenager? Did she decide to rest on her laurels after penning the most successful indie rom-com of all time? Was she playing Farmville?

Well, no, according to Vardalos herself,  she was just waiting until she had more story and life experience in her in order to continue the family orientated tale.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 starts off on the same bleakly funny note as it’s predecessor. Within a few seamless scenes we’re reintroduced to the close knit/crazy Portokalos clan and shown that as much as things change, they also stay the same.

Our fearless heroine Toula (Vardalos) is living next door to her parents (and everyone else in her sprawling family) in suburban Chicago, where she is both simultaneously unhappy with her family’s closeness and utterly dependent on it.

The entire family (played by the original cast, of course, because you can’t recreate that sort of magic) are a little bit older, with a lot more kids in tow, but thankfully still their over-the-top Greek selves.

Toula and Ian (Corbett) are still married, but they’re not quite the same old star-crossed lovers we saw tie-the-knot more than a decade ago. Instead, they’re now a run-of-the-mill suburban couple who never find time to make sweet sweet love and only have one topic of conversation : their teenage daughter, Paris (Elena Kampouris).

17-year-old Paris is walking in her mother’s footsteps, with her overbearing Greek family demanding she settle down with a nice Greek boy and start popping out kids like little Greek Tic Tacs. It’s a tale as old as time, and to be honest, it’s one Vardalos did a hell of a lot better.

Her tale of breaking away from her family and forging her own path while still respecting her Greek heritage was a quirky and moving story that connected with audiences across the globe.

Paris is a caricature of a teenager, with heavy doses of emotion and angst. The movie really, really,  wants you to know she’s a troubled youth, dressing her in a black hoody, with lashings of dark eyeliner and plenty of stomping abut and sighing that the world does not understand her.

However, the star of the movie, the real star that outshines even Toula and Ian, is the extended Portokalos family and their endearing fish-out-of-water antics. And, thankfuly, that side of the film is back and bigger than ever.

We see Toula’s parents fall victim to a strange twist of fate that sees them planning their own wedding, after decades of false marriage. We see the family band together to help Toula and Ian reignite their marital spark (remember that time you were making out in a parked car and were terrified your parents would spring you? Yeah, that). And we see one of the Portokalos family battle with their decision to come out as gay.

So, in a world of reboots, remakes, sequels and prequels, did we really need My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2? I have a feeling the critics will say no, however, I’m saying Ναί (Greek for ‘yes’, see what I did there?).

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is a timely reminder that bigger is not always better and that a heartfelt story line with relateable characters will soar much higher than any old Superman/Batman mash up.

If you loved My Big Fat Greek Wedding, you’ll love snuggling up in the darn and spending a few hours with your favorite Greek family. The jokes may be rehashed and reused, but the sense of fun and familiarity scoots over any overdone dullness.

It’s time to whip out the Windex and embrace the pure nostalgia that surrounds My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, in cinemas now.