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It's a good thing Nia Vardalos is not a pushy performer because "My Life in Ruins" itself is beyond pushy.

"My Life in a Pushy Rom-Com" should be her next project.

Some would argue that she did it seven years ago, when "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" trumped the naysayers and connected with a huge international audience and made hundreds of millions of dollars, all thanks to Vardalos and her solo stage show, from which the film was expanded.

Vardalos looks like a very different person in "My Life in Ruins" (she's 40 pounds lighter, for one thing), though she plays a similarly insecure but charming rooting interest, surrounded by ethnic caricatures.

In director Donald Petrie's film, Georgia, the protagonist, is an American wannabe-academic languishing in Greece, loveless and alone, working for the low-rent Pangloss Tours. Her historical preoccupations repel the clientele, who'd rather hit the tavernas and go shopping. But what's this? Is this love in the air between Georgia and the hunky tour bus driver played by Alexis Georgoulis, whose hair apparently escaped from the cover of a bodice-ripper, or the third drawer from the bottom in Fabio's closet?

You may be too young to remember "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium" (1969), but that film knocked around Europe exploiting all manner of cultural stereotypes and was pretty funny about it. "My Life in Ruins," less so.

"My Life in Ruins" will neither ruin nor change nor significantly impact your life. It may entice you with images of love in bloom in the cradle of civilization, but you may feel a little uneasy when Georgia is told by her boss: "You're not funny. Stop trying."

 

Vardalos deserves better treatment than that, in or out of character.

It sticks to Greece, pitting American lunkheads (Rachel Dratch plays one half of a clueless couple) against Australian lager-swillers, heinously uptight Brits and salt-of-the-earth Irv, a wisecracking widower played by Richard Dreyfuss.

Vardalos glides through the picture, smiling gamely (near-constantly, in fact), setting up the next formulaic vignette in Mike Reiss' screenplay.

Composer David Newman, meantime, jollies things along aggressively with the bouzouki riffs.

 

 

"My Life in Ruins" Movie Trailer

 

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My Life in Ruins MPAA rating: PG-13 (for adult situations).

Running time: 1:36.

Starring: Nia Vardalos (Georgia); Richard Dreyfuss (Irv); Alexis Georgoulis (Poupi).

Directed by Donald Petrie; written by Mike Reiss;

Produced by Michelle Chydzik Sowa and Nathalie Marciano.

A Fox Searchlight Pictures release.

 

 

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