It doesn’t seem sporting to get in a lather over “My Life in Ruins.” After all, the comedy about an unhappy academic working as a tour guide in Athens, Greece, is essentially harmless. And star Nia Vardalos (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) is fairly appealing.
For those craving a baklava-sweet snack, here’s your rush of the familiar. It’s the rest of us who must worry about a spike in our blood sugar.
Vardalos is Georgia. From the start we know she’s in need of some good loving. In an early scene, the Greek-American rants in English that it’s been awhile. She doesn’t think her driver Poupi (Greek television star Alexis Georgoulis beneath a pelt) or the crowd all standing in earshot will understand. They do.
Mildly disrespected by her boss, she’s constantly upstaged by a fellow guide, who plies his camera-wielding wards with sweets and souvenirs. Cradle of civilization be damned.
Georgia’s non-airconditioned bus is packed full of characters: a beer-swigging Aussie couple, a frosty pair traveling with their sulky teen; an elderly lady with sticky fingers; two Spanish divorcees who’ve sworn off men, unless, of course; an American businessman addicted to his cellphone. That’s not the final head count.
Dulled to possibility, Georgia bores her tourists with encyclopedic knowledge of Greece. But her facts lack art. She’s missing what the often-mentioned Zorba (most joyous of Greeks) would call kefi. We’ll call it umph, pep, giddyap.
Did we mention driver Poupi? Beneath that pelt is a man crafted for romance novels and underambitious chick flicks.
Richard Dreyfuss plays Irv, a salty traveler who provides a competing commentary to Georgia’s drone. Of course, he’ll be her emotional mentor.
Give credit to the actor, whose eyes crinkle with knowing. He unearths sorrow amid the movie’s comedy relics. Irv cracks wise in more ways than one.
A glimpse of a better movie surfaces from time to time. But Mike Reiss’ screenplay barges past subtleties like the rude tourists it’s too fond of depicting. Director Donald Petrie seems in no hurry to slow things down. Too bad.
A quieter, gentler approach wouldn’t have made “My Life in Ruins” a new adventure — this territory’s been trampled. But it would have made for a more memorable jaunt.
Directed by Donald Petrie; written by Mike Reiss; photography by Jose Luis Alcaine; starring Nia Vardalos, Richard Dreyfuss, Alexis Georgoulis. PG-13. 1 hour, 36 minutes. Opens today at area theaters.
