Reception and Performance
My Big Fat Greek Wedding became a sleeper hit and grew steadily from its limited release. Despite never hitting the number one spot and being an independent film with a $5 million budget, it ultimately grossed over $368.7 million worldwide, becoming one of the top romantic films of the 21st Century according to Echo Bridge Entertainment. It was the fifth highest-grossing film of 2002 in the United States, with USD$241,438,208, and the highest-grossing romantic comedy in history. Domestically, it is also the highest-grossing film never having been number one on the weekly North American box office charts. The film is among the most profitable of all time, with a 6150% return on an (inflation adjusted) cost of $6 million to produce.
Despite being hugely successful for an independent film, according to the studio, the film lost money. Accordingly, the cast (with the exception of Nia Vardalos who had a separate deal) sued the studio for their part of the profits. The original producers of the film have sued Gold Circle Films due to Hollywood accounting practices because the studio has claimed the film lost $20 million.
The movie received generally positive reviews. Martin Grove of Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson found Wedding when it was a one-woman Nia Vardalos play in L.A. and believed in it so much that they got it made as a movie".
Based on 121 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an overall approval rating from critics of 75%, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's critical consensus was, "Though it sometimes feels like a television sitcom, My Big Fat Greek Wedding is good-hearted and lovable." By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 62, based on 29 reviews, which is considered to be "Generally favorable reviews".
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Famous quotes containing the words reception and/or performance:
“But in the reception of metaphysical formula, all depends, as regards their actual and ulterior result, on the pre-existent qualities of that soil of human nature into which they fall—the company they find already present there, on their admission into the house of thought.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)
“O world, world! thus is the poor agent despised. O traitors and bawds, how earnestly are you set a-work, and how ill requited! Why should our endeavour be so loved, and the performance so loathed?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)