Avery’s Big Fat Greek Wedding: The third installment of the My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise does not live up to the previous two films

I’m a sucker for an early 2000s rom-com. Their silly plots and lovable characters make movies like “Legally Blonde,” “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” my go-to comfort movies. So when I heard a third installment of one of these classics was coming out on Sept. 8, I had to see it. 

“My Big Fat Greek Wedding” is among the early 2000s treasures that continues to appeal to me even two decades after its release due to its timeless humor. Its sequel, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2,” wasn’t considered as successful as its predecessor — typical of most sequels — but still a lovely addition to the original story. “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3” on the other hand, was lacking completely in all aspects, making the original and second installment infinitely more special to me. 

Five minutes into the movie when my favorite Greek couple’s family arrived at the airport to depart for their trip to Greece, I could already tell I wasn’t going to like it due to the rushed and unfunny introduction. Between the forced jokes and an awful plot, the movie was simply worse than the previous two. 

The movie begins by acknowledging the death of former actor Michal Constantine, who played the father Gus in both “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2.” Recovering from the death of an actor portraying a main character in a movie franchise is a difficult task for any director. So while I agree with director Joel Zwick’s approach to incorporate the character’s death into the plot rather than completely cut him out, it was poorly executed. 

Alongside this character’s death, the production team also removed the mother from the movie by diagnosing her with Alzheimer’s — which made no sense because it only complicated the plot. The loss of these two crucial characters creates poorly patched-up plot holes. 

After setting a rocky base for the film with the introduction of the current condition of the family, some members set off on a trip to Greece for a family reunion in Gus’s hometown. When they arrive at the airport, they’re met with an unexpected cousin and the information that most citizens her father had known in the now-dreary town have moved away.

The entire exposition felt rushed and information clarifying what had happened to the family following the second movie was simply not there. This set the stage for a wholly confusing movie. 

It’s at this point in the film when each character reveals a goal they’re trying to achieve or a secret they’re keeping from their family. Each character is followed on their individual journey to resolve their respective conflict. With so many different storylines in the film and over 10 different characters to follow, it makes it hard to keep track of each one and makes their personal conflicts short and pointless. 

Not to mention the ridiculousness of each conflict. One of the characters meets her long lost brother — a classic rom-com cliché. The whole movie felt like watching an episode of “The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” — I kept wondering which “mousekatool” they were going to come up with to resolve their issues. 

Following the resolution of countless side-plots that complicated the movie, there was — you guessed it — a big fat Greek wedding. 

I loved the idea that they brought back the wedding aspect of the franchise and included it in the movie, but similar to the rest of the plot, it was frantically crammed into the last 25 minutes of the film with little explanation or lead-up. 

While all issues are eventually resolved and it’s wholesome to see the characters together as a family at the end, I found nothing else positive to say about the production as a whole. 

Between a plot that didn’t make any sense, crucial characters who were barely included and forced jokes that crash landed with the audience, I can confidently say that I never need to watch “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3” again.