My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 27, 2023

It feels like ages ago that a little film called My Big Fat Greek Wedding took the cinema world by storm. It was a small, low budget, independent film that found its success gradually, over time, by word of mouth, and eventually took in well over $200 million at the box office. It spawned a (slightly) lesser sequel in 2016 and, now in 2023, the third film finally sees the Greek clan actually travel to Greece for a family reunion. This is innocent fun, hardly the finest of the series, but a decent little venture with all of the vivacious family dynamics audiences have come to expect, here with an authentic Greek flair and flavor in support. The film touches on a few other themes as well but offers a nice little send-off for the franchise.

Though her mother Maria (Lainie Kazan) is suffering from dementia, Toula (Nia Vardalos) and a sizeable portion of her Greek clan, including her non-Greek husband Ian (John Corbett) and their college-aged daughter Paris (Elena Kampouris), travel to the homeland with a mission to give the late Gus' journal to his friends. Upon arrival, the family meets a distant relative, Victory (Melina Kotselou), who acts as their guide. As the family revels in Greek culture, bonds are both strengthened and tested in light of the ups and downs of family, vacation, place, purpose, and some profound revelations that will forever alter their individual and family journeys.

The film plays with a typical cadence that tends to define so many like-minded films, where scenes are strung together that focus on one character's story and then proceed to the next, stitching together a story rather than cohesively building it. The film is more about experiencing snippets of the trip to Greece with one, or a few, characters at a time, and while the film satisfies the needs of the general story arc, it is, even at about a brisk 90 minutes in length, sometimes struggling to make every shot and scene worthwhile. The film attempts to keep itself going with a balance between humor and heart, placing its characters in awkward situations that elicit a chuckle amidst the more serious family affairs and personal crises that abound throughout the film. Vardalos has packed the film to the gills with content, not all of it really necessary or truly great, but as an ensemble sort of film with a central connecting thread, it satisfies as a conclusion to one of the more storied franchises of the past few decades.

The film succeeds as it does thanks to the well capable work of its cast and a core in particular that is not only happy and eager to reprise their roles but also re-inhabit them. None of the returning actors miss a beat, and the sense of joyful camaraderie is evident because each actor knows his or her character and the group understands the larger family dynamic, and the culture from which they come, incredibly well. The movie's joy is not so much in the main story but indeed in all of those moments that string the film together. Vardalos seems to understand that, and she runs with it, and while it might result in a choppy whole, the movie works very well in most of its singular spurts along the way. This is hardly as great as the classic original, but fans who have frequently returned into the lives and hearts of these characters over the years will find this a very comfortable film from start to end.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Universal brings My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 to Blu-ray with a decent 1080p transfer. The image is hardly perfect, showing some video limitations from a lower grade source, especially in various establishing shots but also in core elements where noise can be pervasive, even in good lighting conditions. Fine detail never excites, either. It's capable, but viewers will never be dazzled by any of the textures on display. Basic facial, clothing, and environmental elements present to a solid enough baseline level, but it is clear that the digital source is of a lower grade and can't quite compete, visually, with the top digital films in the industry. Colors are very bright and bold, vivid and delightful, with bright Greek blues, for instance, and natural greens as well, standing as some of the highlights. Black levels are fine, skin tones look more or less natural, and white balance appears good.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This is not an action extravaganza, so the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is not often taxed. When it is pushed, however, it plays well, such as during a club sequence around the 29-minute mark that offers potent bass and prominent surround engagement to pull the listener into the club, all the while maintaining both environmental integrity and dialogue prioritization during in-club conversations. Dialogue fidelity is excellent throughout and is the main sonic element in the track. It is firmly centered and lifelike throughout. Musical engagement is wide and clear while featuring just enough surround usage to gently wrap the listener in the music. Light atmospheric effects are also nicely integrated throughout. This is a very good, if not fairly basic, presentation from Universal.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 contains a handful of extras including featurettes, deleted scenes, a gag reel, and a commentary track with Writer/Director Nia Vardalos. A DVD copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code are included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

• Gag Reel (1080p, 7:43): humorous moments from the shoot.
• Deleted and Extended Scenes (1080p, 2:11 total runtime): A scenes montage with no identifying titles or markers, but they are generally easy to place in the film's context.
• On Set with Nia Vardalos (1080p, 3:21): A quick discussion about Vardalos' writing and direction: learning the art of writing and directing, acting in the film, and more.
• Opa! The Making of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (1080p, 7:00): A basic making-of that includes clips form the film, behind the scenes footage, and interviews that altogether explore plot, the setting, cast and characters, and more.
• Wedding Drum Song - Extended Take (1080p, 1:00): A longer version of the performance as seen in the film.
• Audio Commentary: Writer/Director Nia Vardalos chats over the film with passion for the project, the film's universe, the characters and performances, the locations, and much more. While there are a few gaps along the way, the comments are heartfelt and agreeably delivered.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is an imperfect, but mostly satisfying, venture back into the lives of some of cinema's most famous characters, Greek or otherwise. The film is simple and charming and, despite a somewhat choppy structure, tugs on the heartstrings and delivers a pleasing sendoff to a franchise that is now more than two decades old. Universal's Blu-ray delivers decent video, solid audio, and a good selection of basic bonus content. Recommended.