My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, film review: Heavy going sequel soon begins to grate

(12A) Kirk Jones, 98 mins. Starring: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Lainie Kazan, Michael Constantine

Heavy going: Andrea Martin and Nia Vardalos in ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2’ (Universal Pictures)

The original Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) was a box-office phenomenon, a low-budget indie romcom that made a fortune and spawned endless imitators. This belated sequel turns out to be very heavy going.

The original couple, Toula (Nia Vardalos) and Ian (John Corbett), are now in middle-age and trying to deal with demanding kids and even more demanding parents. When they attempt to re-energise their romantic life, there is always bound to be an audience of neighbours and relatives peering through the window as they try to make love in a car or advising them where to go or what to wear. The actual wedding here isn't between star-crossed young lovers but between two ancient members of the family.

The boorish and chauvinistic behaviour of the family patriarch "Gus" (Michael Constantine) soon begins to grate as do the constant references to Zorba, Alexander the Great and the prodigious Greek capacity for nosiness, eavesdropping and gossip. ("Telephone, telegram, tell a Greek," is how one character sums up the phenomenon.)