Me, Myself & Nia Vardalos
September 22, 2009
My Big Fat Greek Wedding, My Life in Ruins, I Hate Valentine’s Day: What do these three movies have in common? Aside from being horrible romantic comedies (I’m basing my judgment on having only seen MBFGW and reading reviews about the other two), they all have to do with Nia Vardalos and they also use pronouns in their title.
I know Vardalos only starred in My Life in Ruins, but honestly, can this woman stay away from romantic comedies with titles containing pronouns? We loved My Big Fat Greek Wedding because it was sweet and autobiographical. The premise was based on Vardalos’ one-woman play and even if the plot was predictable and not very stimulating, the film was fun.
But c’mon. Just because you’re successful with one genre doesn’t mean you have to stick to that same exact idea of an unlucky woman looking for love for your next two projects. And especially to cast John Corbett AGAIN as your love interest? Whatever happened to creativity and originality?
Nia, you were the indie movie darling of 2002. You defied the odds with your romantic comedy, capturing the fickle hearts of middle-aged women who prided themselves on using Laemmle’s Sunset 5 as their primary movie theater (no mainstream AMC for them!). You even garnered an Oscar nomination for your film; My Big Fat Greek Wedding may not have been overly compelling or mindblowing, but critics still loved you for your sincere story about family life and love.
So what happened? WHAT HAPPENED, NIA? From what I can see, you’re stuck in this rut, believing that the audience wants to see more of you (with even more hair extensions), more of John Corbett and more of you two trying to figure out how to fall in love with each other.
No. Stop. Try something new. Maybe an dark thriller where you play a serial killer? Or perhaps you can do a coming-of-age comedy with Dakota Fanning? Anything but an insipid love story.
And stop with the pronouns. There’s only so many times you can attach your face to a movie poster that says Me, Myself or I without looking like a played out narcissist.
