REEL CRITICS

‘Spider-Man’ weaves a fun web

“Spider-Man” the movie is a comic book come to life. Melodrama, cheesy

dialogue and tons of action. Trade in the comic book mainstay of “POW!”

and “BOOM!” for CGI effects and you have the latest superhero movie.

The actors, with the exception of villain Willem Dafoe, were fine.

That’s it -- fine. They did their parts and got through the movie. Tobey

Maguire was properly quiet as Peter Parker and amusing as Spider-Man.

Dafoe easily steals all the force of the movie, especially in scenes

where he fights to keep his alter-ego, the Green Goblin, from taking

over.

The storyline is silly and often over-the-top. Think “Dick Tracy”

rather than “Batman.” I laughed unexpectedly in several places, and I

wasn’t the only one. While it’s easy to tell that the special effects

were done by a computer, they’re still enjoyable.

“Spider-Man” is a fun movie. It’s not awe-inspiring or powerful, but

it is fun. For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, the big-screen

doesn’t really help anything. In fact, the effects might appear more

realistic on a TV screen (“Perfect Storm” was better in a smaller

format).

Put Spider-Man on the list to see, but if you don’t get around to it

until the month before the next installment of the saga comes out, don’t

worry. Those webs “Spider-Man” makes are strong. He can hang around until

you’re ready.

“Spider-Man” is rated PG-13 for stylized violence and action.* MELISSA

RICHARDSON is a Costa Mesa resident and a junior at UC Irvine.

It’s (almost) all Greek at this ‘Wedding’

“My Big Fat Greek Wedding” believes firmly in the idea of a person

taking control of their life and making it what they want it to be. The

specific person in this film is second-generation Greek-American Toula

Portokalos (Nia Vardalos). At the beginning of the film, Toula is a

frumpy woman of 30 who still lives with her parents and works at the

family restaurant. Discontented, Toula takes control of her life by

enrolling in computer courses, giving her appearance a make-over and

going to work for her aunt’s travel agency. Then, she falls in love with

a handsome non-Greek man named Ian Miller (John Corbett).

Toula’s family expects her to marry a Greek man, so there is a huge

uproar when they learn of her relationship with Ian. Toula is caught in

the classic conflict of most American children of immigrants. Their

parents want them to learn and value the culture and traditions of the

old country. The children, however, want to fit into the American culture

that they were born into. This film focuses on a Greek-American family,

but the children of immigrants from any country could probably identify

with much of Toula’s situation.

While this could all be very heavy and serious, “Wedding” handles

everything with humor. Nia Vardalos, who wrote “Wedding” as well as

acting the lead role, weaves lots of laugh-out-loud moments into just

about every scene.

The characters in “Wedding” are drawn very broadly. The Portokaloses

are the quirky, colorful ethnic family that Hollywood just loves. The

Millers are the uptight, bland White Anglo-Saxon Protestant family that

Hollywood just loves to make fun of. The stereotypes in this film are not

mean or offensive though, since “Wedding” has great affection for all of

its characters.

When I saw this film at the Lido, I was surrounded by many people of

Greek ancestry, judging from their conversations. They absolutely roared

with laughter at many aspects of the Portokalos family, so I have to

assume this film rings true for Greek-Americans. Not being of Greek

descent myself, I still laughed hard at much of the humor. “ My Big Fat

Greek Wedding” is a very funny film that everyone can enjoy, whether they

are Greek or not.

“My Big Fat Greek Wedding” is rated PG for sensuality and language.

* TRICIA BEHLE, 33, lives in Newport Beach and works as a software

validator.