Press dismiss Wedding's TV date

Press dismiss Wedding's TV date

The movie starred John Corbett and Nia Vardalos

The made-for-TV version of the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding has received negative reviews from the US press.

The sitcom, which stars all but one of the actors from the film, was aired on the CBS network on Monday.

Nia Vardalos, who created and starred in the 2002 film, said the TV version would give viewers a more contemporary feel on the "old world" touch of the film.

But US newspapers gave the sitcom, which is called My Big Fat Greek Life, mixed reviews.

"There was nothing wrong with the first episode of the comedy based on the film but there was enough missing to concern those who loved the movie," said a review in the New York Times.

We were dished up lukewarm leftovers that were about as funny as a big fat pan of spoiled spanikopita

New York Post

"So far, My Big Fat Greek Life has all the predictable jokes and canned laughter of an ordinary sitcom without enough of the dark insights or droll wit that made its predecessor the most successful independent film ever made."

The show "felt like just another sitcom" for the Los Angeles Times television reviewer.

"Whereas the movie was over-the-top funny, the sitcom's opening episode was over the top minus the funny, despite lacking only one member of the big-screen cast," the review said.

The New York Post was even more scathing.

"Twenty-three million people tuned in Monday night to see My Big Fat Greek Life, expecting, no doubt, to see a new version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding," its review said.

"Instead, we were dished up lukewarm leftovers that were about as funny as a big fat pan of spoiled spanikopita."

My Big Fat Greek Wedding started life as Vardalos' one-woman stand-up performance, based on her own life as a Greek marrying a non-Greek.

It was turned into a movie after Tom Hanks' wife, Rita Wilson, saw the show and decided to produce it.