I must say that by enjoying this movie, I surprised even myself. Of course, I should. I never liked watching romantic comedies that don't have big stars (big macho stars like Eastwood, Connery, Pacino, De Niro, Russell...you get the idea) or those with Julia Roberts in it. I ended up watching this movie by default (don't ask me what happened, let's say it involved a lady friend) and by god, I enjoyed it.

I must have heard of this movie, when it was making waves in the USA. The distributors there took their time to screen this movie from town to town, ensuring that word of mouth does the marketing job for them. And it did. The oldest marketing tool had been useful in making this movie one of the biggest hit in last year.

The movie is based on a one character play written by Nia Vardalos. It caught the attention of Rita Wilson - that's Tom Hanks' wife - who wanted it on big screen and cast the same actress, the writer herself, in the main role. Hanks lent his name (as one of the producers), and enabled the films release.

The plot is simple. Nia plays Toula Portokalos, a Grecian girl with a big problem. She says that she is "over 30 and way past my expiration date." Most Americans might be wondering what's wrong? Well, she's Greek, and it is her family culture that girls must be married by then, making Greek babies and feed everyone till the day they die. Her parents are both fanatical, Orthodox Greeks. Fate has it that one day she falls in love with a non-Greek and the fun starts.

What appeals to us Malaysian are the multi-cultural differences portrayed. The Greeks in the movie could easily be the Indians in Malaysia. They look so familiar. There's a lady who looks and sounds like my aunty. There's a guy who talks like my uncle. And there are my cousins, and on, and on... And it is sooooooooo funny. I never had a hearty laugh like this for a long time. Damn, I never really thought that I would like this movie.

And I damn nearly fell in love with Nia's Toula. Who couldn't? And when was the last time we saw a realistically looking heroine? When the movie starts, she looks really chunky, with ugly glass and so on. But we adored her after a couple of minutes. Then, she goes through some transformation, with not much of difference. Still, we adore her.

The movie pays great attention to the script and much has been dispensed with in making it cute and very self-conscious. Things just happen on the screen. And the performance? I can only say one thing: selfless. Those people just live on screen and we are there with them. I want to be with them. Yes, they can be irritating some times, as Toula complaints, but they are, at the end of the day, sweet, sincere and honest people I don't want them living in my home, but I don't mind visiting them over the weekend.

The movie has not been mentioned in the Golden Globes award, so there is a strong likelihood that it will not be mentioned for Oscars after all. But dammit, the girl deserves awards. At least for the excellent writing job she had done. Everyone, bow to Nia.