My Life in Ruins (2009)

The film was really funny. In keeping with Nia's focus on being Greek and single, this movie has an added angle that her other films don't -- here she's an educated woman. WHY she's in Greece isn't clear, but she ends up taking a job as a tour guide for a female business owner who doesn't like her and plots with other agents to get her to quit. How Nia doesn't see this and why she stays are obvious questions, but she's soon thrown off kilter by each of the characters riding the tour bus with her. (No Spoilers!)There's a little love and a little drama. Sometimes Nia herself seems to be trying too hard, but that's actually in keeping with her character. She perhaps needs to stop throwing Ian Gomez into ALL her movies. It was cute in the first My Big Fat Greek Wedding and necessary in the sequel, but he doesn't really add anything special to the other movies.... It's probably nice to have one's husband on payroll, but it's probably healthier to let him get his own acting gigs.

This is what Nia Vardalos does best. Aside from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" she hasn't really done a lot of work that's noteworthy. I did, however, quite like her in that movie. "My Life In Ruins" isn't as frenetic as "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," nor is it based on her own life, as the previous movie was, but like that movie it's an enjoyable and amusing comedy. It has no real depth and you pretty much know how it's going to end up, but overall the journey is fun and it's a journey with mostly likable characters, although the whole thing is a bit mindless.Vardalos plays Georgia, an American classics professor who finds herself out of work and moves to Greece, where she ends up as perhaps the worst tour guide with the worst tour company you've ever seen. This movie follows one of her tourist trips. The tourists she leads are mostly exaggerated caricatures - a boring salesman, the ugly Americans, the divorced and ready for action women, the depressed teenager, the snooty Brits and the fun-loving if often incomprehensible Australians. There's even a caricature of the overly polite Canadians who are travelling in the other group led by Georgia's rival. The tourists - much to Georgia's frustration - have no interest in Greek history or culture, but want nothing more than to do shopping trips to pick up souvenirs, buy ice cream and go to the beach. Georgia is lost and alone and lonely in Greece, with an empty and meaningless life. But the potential for romance develops during this trip.Co-starring in this is the always reliable Richard Dreyfuss as Irv, an American widower also a bit lost and lonely. After a rough start, he and Georgia develop a friendship and he becomes the old sage, teaching her a bit about life and love, and even becoming the voice of the oracle at the Temple of Delphi during the tour.There's nothing deep here, and it's not brilliant. It's just a pleasant and amusing (and at times quite funny) movie. Although Georgia's tourist group may not be interested, there are some wonderful shots of some of the ancient Greek ruins. There's nothing wrong with this. It's just what Nia Vardalos seems to do best. (7/10)

I watched this film the first time when I was in my classroom. My teacher showed I and my classmates a lot of discs and asked which one we preferred. We were quite selective, I guess, to choose because we didn't know a film before. Luckily, we picked this film and I'm so glad that we did that. Well, how to say... This film which talks about a story of a tour guide named Georgia and her so-called last tour (but actually it turns out to be very different) is solemnly romantic, extremely funny and downright touching with some scenes of kind of "magic" from Greece God and Goddess.Though it doesn't have much meaning like the Oscar films or stuff like that, but this is a really helpful film for those (1) who wanna become tour guide or wanna go on a trip and (2) who wanna laugh.

Nia Vardalos is Georgia, an American come back to Greece to be a tour guide. However, she gets the loud obnoxious tourists, and she really has no personality to interact with them.Richard Dreyfuss is a widower who laughs on the outside, but is hurting badly inside. He tries to breath some life into Georgia.Greek actor Alexis Georgoulis provides the love interest.It has it's moments. With a group as diverse as hers, it provides a lot of laughs. It's not a great movie, but it is entertaining.Boy, Vardalos has some great teeth. She shows them constantly. However, the Spanish divorcées looking for action, show more interesting assets.