Nia Vardalos plays Georgia, an American teacher who moves to Greece to teach but gets laid off and takes a job as a tour guide while waiting for another teaching offer to come along. Georgia is filled with love and respect for the old architecture and culture, and is frustrated by the fact that the tourists just want to have fun and shop. She wants to teach them about Greece and they want to buy souvenirs. She wants to show them historic places and they want to frolic in the sea.
Richard Dreyfuss is the Sage of the Group
Her latest group of tourists includes Irv (Richard Dreyfuss), an aging widower who sees life in a philosophical way, and an assortment of others whose differences are like night and day. Georgia desperately desires to get through to this ragtag group but feels it is useless, until Irv shows her how to loosen up, open up, and enjoy life in the moment rather than dwell on the past.
The bus driver, Poupi Kakas (Alexis Georgoulis) starts out as a scruffy-looking man, but as the tour progresses he cleans up rather well, to the surprise of Georgia. The two form an alliance and as they become closer things start to look different to Georgia. With Poupi and Irv, she learns to lighten up, look at her beautiful surroundings in a new way, and finally enjoy her life in Greece.
Suddenly the boring IHOP executive, the divorcees, the quiet teenager and her overbearing mother and dutiful father, the old couple, and the rest of her tourists become her friends. Together they make a good team and finally Georgia learns how to enjoy her job.
Georgia Feels More Comfortable with her Life and her Job
Georgia took the tour guide job as an interim position while she sent out resumes to schools. She has had a tough time in the business. She always gets the “B” tour group whereas the other tour guide Nico (Alistair McGowan) gets the friendlier, more charming tourists and an air conditioned bus. However, once Georgia learns some valuable life lessons, and love lessons as well, she takes matters into her own hands and turns the tide where Nico is concerned.
The film is touching and funny. The humor pops up at unexpected times. With Irv’s intuitive sense about people and Georgia’s desire to succeed, the result is a sweet, funny, and yes, romantic story that is a joy to watch. And the scenery is beautiful.
My Life in Ruins - The DVD
The DVD contains some deleted scenes as well as an alternate ending. And there’s a fun feature called “Everybody Loves Poupi” where the editors get creative and make some very interesting scenes by splicing in shots of Poupi and comments by the characters.
- Studio: 20th Century Fox
- Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
- Number of discs: 1
- Run Time: 95 minutes
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