Review

Dark-haired, pudgy Toula (Vardalos) dutifully carried her plastic container of moussaka to the school cafeteria even though she wanted the white bread sandwiches the blonde girls had. Years later, 30 and unmarried, still dutiful, she works at Dancing Zorba’s, the family restaurant. The rest of Toula’s life seems mapped out, but something clicks one day when she overhears an aunt say to her father that he will always have her. Small changes have a cumulative effect, and a chance encounter with a young man (Corbett) first noticed in the restaurant takes Toula down a path very different from that envisioned by her very demonstrative, very Greek family. Vardalos brings her one-woman play to the screen with the assistance of Tom Hanks and The Playtone Company, and, refreshingly, presents Toula’s metamorphosis as gradual and believable, creating a strong female with native intelligence under surface naïvité. Sometimes the personalities are broadly drawn, frequently more caricature than character; but there’s warmth and sweetness and a lot of heart without too much mawkishness. Amid some saccharine predictability, there are some affecting moments of touching authenticity. The cast is effective, demonstrating a true affection for their characters. Kazan and Constantine are the quintessential ethnic parents, Corbett has honed to perfection the enlightened new age man from “Northern Exposure” and “Sex and the City,” and it’s a pleasure to see SCTV’s Martin again. Vardalos knowingly explores the effects of cultural isolation and the resolution of family constraints in her portrayal of Toula as she travels from frump to self-possessed, changing profoundly yet never leaving her roots.