Love's Greek to Me

I accidentally stumbled upon this movie whilst browsing a streaming site. Those following my blog, will know romantic comedies are not my favourite genre - mainly because I find them predictable. Although 'Love's Greek to me' is also every bit predictable, I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

The film revolves around the relationship between Ilana and her Greek boyfriend Mike. When she finally goes to Greece for the first time (for a wedding) she meets Mike's family. Mike also plans to propose to Ilana. Mike's mother Athena is an overbearing character (making for an interesting and funny character in the process). It's all about tradition - GREEK tradition!

I loved the beautiful sights of Greece, making for beautiful cinematography. None of the characters were truly standout characters, but they were a lot of fun. I couldn't help but think the creators were somehow trying to make another 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' (they even use reference to that film in this film!).

Despite ending up as predictable as I believed it would be, it was still a fun movie. Cheesy, but sweet.

I was impressed by scenery in this movie as much or more than any other movie I can remember. It is so exotic and beautiful. There are a lot of opportunities to enjoy it.

The story is a little different than a lot of the boy-meet-girl-etc romances because the central couple is already together and their romance is only nominally central to the story. Torrey DeVitto's Ilana is the center of the story and all of her relationships. Her relationships with Athena and with Mike are the most dominant, but also her mother and Mike's sister.

The story is also simple and very predictable. You can see the ending developing a little at a time from early on. But the heart of this movie is just that- the heart and much of that goes back to Ilana. The tension in this movie is more emotional than dramatic.

For half the movie, Athena is beyond annoying as a Momzilla. Actually monster-in-law. Like so many of these movies a character has a major personality change towards the end and actually becomes interesting.

The acting is mostly good. I won't say either way about Marina Sirtis because I was so annoyed by Athena for so long, but the rest of the cast did a good job. DeVitto carries the emotional heart of the story quite well The dialog is ok. It is not terribly witty, but there are some moments that it delves into deeper emotions.

Everyone in this movie sooo needs therapy. Like run, girl, run. Or see you soon on reddit making "AITA for wanting some privacy and deciding for myself".

I mean, they keep gaslighting and accusing the girl for keeping a distance when actually all she does is adapting to her boyfriend's family, him and all. "Oh you don't want to have your life changed in a moment, then maybe you don't love me at all". They have ZERO chemistry together and he doesn't even try. And him and his family are constantly like "well, you don't have any traditions so you'll have to follow a million of our", "uuu I can't say no to my mummy". Whaaaat. That made me so angry and sad for her.

Some of the acting here is super-cringey - I'm looking at you, Marina Sirtis - but, setting that aside, Hallmark has done a sensational job of showcasing the beauty of Greek.

This might be their best on-location movie ever, at least as far as the setting goes. You almost forget about the plot - a cliched one, where Sirtis is the comically overbearing mother in law wanting to control every single facet of her son's wedding, bridezilla in this case is mother-in-law-zilla! - because of the scenery.

Plus, Torrey DeVitto is a delight. Not sure she's looked more radiant in a Hallmark movie. The costume department had her looking spectacular in every single scene.

I'll keep it short and sweet.

This is not your usual girl meets boy and the story of how they fall in love movie. This is about what happens after. And I just love that. I personally haven't seen much of that on Hallmark so it was a refreshing change.

It's a movie about love, family, and particularly about learning to trust and to adjust for the sake of the ones you love. For someone around the age of the main cast it deeply resonated with me and taught me so much. The sites were also really beautiful and had me wanting to go to Greece. Sigh...

All in all a lovely summer watch with some nice life lessons. I thoroughly recommend it.