If the movie were to have one saving grace, it would be Andrea Martin as Aunt Voula. She’s the only one in the cast who is giving it her all, and her character stands out. She delivers most of the lines that are funny, and without her, the whole thing would be much more bland. What’s also strange is that the star, writer and director Vardalos’s performance is quite flat by comparison.

From that first step on Greek soil, be prepared to feel a little lightheadedness—a certain dislocation of everyday certainties is underway.  In the midst of a busy Athens intersection, Hadrian’s Arch, once a gateway to some of the greatest of Roman monuments, stands proud in the midday sun. On the Aegean island of Santorini, one dizzying gaze over the precipitous volcanic cliffs and the rumble of lost Atlantis may sound from the depths below.  Navigating another hairpin turn in Crete’s White Mountains, a cri-cri or wild goat leaps in front of your car window—its hooves as nimble as the Great God Pan’s. 

A group of Black and immigrant Greeks have banded together to form a self-defense group to counter the attacks of a gang that targets citizens of color in the country. Nicknamed the “Black Panthers,” the group uses cell phones, social media, and neighborhood patrols to record any activity perceived as a threat from the far-right neo-Nazi Golden Dawn Party. Regarding the massive economic crisis in Greece, the Golden Dawn Party has risen in power and blame immigrants for the high unemployment and crime. 

During times of economic crisis, immigrants are often the scapegoats of all problems, from crime to unemployment. Far-right parties, in particular, make attacking immigrants the core of their programs. None more so than the Greek Golden Dawn, an unabashed neo-Nazi party, which even goes so far as to enforce its election slogan “Let’s rid this country from the filth” by attacking immigrants in the streets. Anti-immigrant sentiments are rampant throughout Europe, and they are not only reserved for the far right.