“Nia Vardalos is back on the big screen with ‘My Life in Ruins’”

After this recent discussion about strong female roles in movies, this LA Times feature on Nia Vardalos by Rachel Abramowitz slots in nicely:

At 46, Vardalos returns to the screen this summer after a three-year absence, with two romantic comedies. In “My Life in Ruins” (in theaters Friday), Vardalos plays a burned-out tour guide, resigned to a bus trip from hell around Greece with a disparate bunch of tourists, who falls for a Greek bus driver. In “I Hate Valentine’s Day” (July 3), which she also wrote and directed, she stars as a snappy, commitment-phobic florist who will date men only five times before a mandated breakup, a plan that goes awry when John Corbett (her “Greek Wedding” costar) opens a restaurant on her street.

As she notes, “In the movies, you often see the average-looking guy with the incredibly attractive woman. In my movies you see the average-looking woman with the super hot John Corbett. I’m happy to make those movies for all of us women. Guess what? We need people like me on screen. That’s what movies are. You go and escape for a sec.”

The article touches on Vardalos’ recent weight loss, her 10-year struggle with infertility, and the adoption of a 3 year-old girl out of foster care. And just as a reminder about her background:

She and Gomez [her husband], also an actor, in the early ’90s moved to Los Angeles, where she toiled unsuccessfully, until she wrote “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” as a screenplay and as a one-woman show, which she launched and performed. One night, Rita Wilson, who’s also of Greek heritage, came to watch her perform — and the rest is history. Wilson’s husband is Tom Hanks, and he and his business partner, Gary Goetzman, ended up producing the $5-million movie, which went on to gross $369 million at the worldwide box office.

Vardalos has carved out a nice career as a screenwriter, actor, and now director. Here is the trailer for My Life in Ruins:

And here’s the trailer for I Hate Valentine’s Day:

Do you remember the first time you saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding? I say first time because I’m sure there are many of us (myself included) who saw it multiple times. I remember being amazed at the audience in the theater — mothers, grandmothers, daughters, whole families of women relations who just howled during the movie. 

I’ll be real curious to see how My Life in Ruins does this weekend against The Hangover and Land of the Lost. Good counter-programming move that could work.

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