“My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2” isn’t going to be enjoying any honeymoon with the critics.
Reviews for the long-gestating sequel are overwhelmingly negative. The film currently holds a “Rotten” rating of 21 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
The follow-up to Nia Vardalos‘ surprise 2002 comedy blockbuster is being ripped for coming so late to the game, as well as rehashing old gags. Several reviewers also drew parallels to the failed “My Big Fat Greek Life” sitcom from 2003.
Moira MacDonald of the Seattle Times:
“None of this has any real reason for being; even the tiniest bit of drama that Vardalos’ screenplay scares up … gets wrapped up by the hour mark. But Vardalos has created a community of characters and players so likable, it seems almost mean to criticize — like picking on one’s own annoying but beloved relatives.”
Fionnuala Halligan of Screen Daily:
“Shot in Toronto, ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2’ is standard-issue rom-com on a technical level, even considering that there’s no rom and not very much com.”
Roger Moore of Movie Nation:
“‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2’ is a veritable feast of low-hanging fruit. The laughs are obvious, we see them coming a mile away…But those laughs will connect with any undemanding audience in search of a little — a dolmades serving — of good, clean fun.”
Mara Reinstein of US Weekly:
“All the plots are blah sitcom material, at best — and in case you don’t remember, there’s a reason why the CBS spinoff ‘My Big Fat Greek Life’ lasted all of seven episodes in 2003. The underlying problem with nearly all comedy sequels is the lack of freshness. The once-sharp jokes are now recycled, and they rarely earn the same laughs.”
David Ehrlich of Slate:
“The first problem with ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2’ … is that it assumes that audiences took these eminently forgettable characters home with them. On the one hand, it repeats so many of the same jokes that it almost doesn’t matter. On the other, there are enough callbacks that it feels like Vardalos has presumed an intimate knowledge of the Portokalos family and all of their zany traditions.”
Eric Henderson of Slant Magazine:
“The lesson of the first film was that any rules laid out by your family are only meant to increase your chances for happiness in life, and that nothing will make you happier than to follow the path that makes the most sense to you. ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2’ may recycle a lot of things from the original, but that sentiment isn’t one of them.”