Review: 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3' tries, it really does

School may be starting, summer may be coming to an end, but the vacation escapist romantic comedies are still creeping into theaters. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3," a follow-up to the first "Wedding" in 2002 and the second in 2016, follows, if anything else, the most natural and intuitive progression for the franchise. As much as the series both praises and laments life in a Greek immigrant family, the films have yet to find their characters leave the greater suburban Chicago area. Newly-crowned matriarch Toula (Nia Vardalos) changes that. Following the death of her beloved father Gus Portokalos (Michael Constantine, who passed in 2021), Toula makes it her mission to fulfill her father's dying wish: give the journal he kept throughout his life to his three childhood friends. When she receives a well-timed invitation to a "family reunion" in her father's home village, fate has aligned to send the Portokalos clan back to the homeland.

Fans of the series know that Toula and her husband Ian Miller (John Corbett) are the straight characters to her loud-mouthed, overbearing family, a rotation of bumbling fools with short fuses, big opinions but, ultimately, only deep affection in their hearts. Lovable, quotable, but utterly ridiculous, the Portokalos family has returned in full swing with the exception of Toula's mother Maria (Lainie Kazan) who is struggling with a declining memory. But Aunt Voula (Andrea Martin) is still as sharp as a whip, commandeering the raucous plane of Greek-American travelers while managing a matchmaking endeavor, eager to set up Toula and Ian's daughter Paris (Elena Kampouris) with a "nice Greek boy" Aristotle (Elias Kacavas).

Laden with heavy nostalgia for the first film, which was a breakout indie hit and put writer-director-star Vardalos on the map, this third installment stalls at the gate. It makes it to Greece, but never quite finds the rhythm that made its predecessor such a charming, relatable knockout. Toula's brother Nick (Louis Mandylor) and Aunt Frieda (Maria Vacratsis) round out the troop who head to the small island village where it's revealed there is no reunion. Victory (Melina Kotselou) is the overly optimistic mayor of the 6-person town; her catch phrase - "number one, the best!" - applies to nearly everything that crosses her path in a blind optimism that feels particularly Borat-esque. Victory sent out invitations to the families of those who abandoned the village decades ago, leaving it vacant and in disrepair. Gus' old flame Alexandra (Anthi Andreopoulou) and her son Peter (Alexis Georgoulis) are one of the few who have remained, and they open their arms to the Portokalos crew.

As Toula makes slow work of tracking down her father's school friends, the others gain a new appreciation for Greece, taking in the slower pace of life and learning to connect with nature and one another. Much of the film's comedy repeats the schtick upon which the "Wedding" franchise has been built: hyperbolic characters, flamboyant interactions and lots of Greek jokes. Windex makes a cameo, and there are some moments of self-reference and self-deprecation, like when the characters living in Greece brush aside the Portokalos tradition of claiming any given word as a Greek derivative. ("Yes, we know it is Greek.") In these moments, the film touches on the issue that is universally faced by those who've experienced this brand of diaspora, wherein one generation immigrates and attempts to keep the old country alive in children who only know the new. The Portokalos family are as much American as they are Greek, and they are bursting with a wistful longing for the Greece their parents once knew. It's hard not to commiserate with their earnest attempts.

That Greece is gone, and the new is not romanticized, even in this fictionalized, for-laughs motion picture. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3," with its lighthearted jokes and blundering situational humor, still shows a struggling nation, one that has more generations leaving than coming. Those who are moving to Greece are predominantly Syrian refugees treated with arms-length compassion. The uncomfortable relations are touched on in the film with mild conflict when one such Syrian asylum seeker (Stephanie Nur), who has become an assistant of sorts to Alexandra, falls in love with her grandson. Just as Ian once faced the Portokalos' judgment and begrudging acceptance, so must this new couple attempt to break through the Greek tendency to insulate themselves and exclude those who do not belong.

The film's message reflects what Vardalos has always preached: kindness, love and acceptance. There is no doubt that this third dance with the Portokalos family will delight fans of the prior two films (and quickly canceled television show from 2003). The characters are as rich and ridiculous as ever, and the fresh sea air of the Grecian isle allows the family's latest squabbles to feel more like a vacation than another trip to their Midwestern residence. But if "better than a trip to Illinois" is all we can say about "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3," then maybe it's time to say goodbye to Toula, Voula and the rest of the cousins.

"My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3" is in theaters now.