Nia Vardalos, the voluptuous star of the Oscar-nominated indie hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding, is not so voluptuous these days. Standing 40 pounds trimmer, she has also unwound her dark, corkscrew curls into softer, blonder Hollywood waves. Today, where she once draped her bod in dumpy momwear, she now stands confidently in minidresses.
By the weight-obsessive standards of her chosen field, this would be considered simply a shrewd career move. But Vardalos has spoken publicly about her battles with infertility and her genetic predisposition for diabetes, which she ignored for years. Recently, her doctor urged her to cut her weight to prevent the disease's onset, according to an interview she gave last week to People. This time, she listened.
So why are the reviews of her ultracheesy new pic, My Life in Ruins, highlighting her new image as central to the film's failure as its truly insufferable script? Variety's acid-tongued review describes her as "strutting" across the screen while sporting "2½-inch wedges, thigh-baring skirts and [a] honey-toned Sarah Palin coiffure." Roger Ebert lambasts her (in an otherwise spot-on review) for being "thinner, blonder, better dressed, looks younger and knows it. She's like the winner of a beauty makeover at a Hollywood studio. She has that don't touch my makeup! look." And Entertainment Weekly writes "[b]lunt and brassy, with a meticulous windswept mane and an air of officious sexiness, she might be warming up to star in The Arianna Huffington Story."
Ouch.
To say that Vardalos's career success is directly proportional to her weight is nothing short of ridiculous. Would we say the same of Rita Wilson and Jennifer Aniston, two other Greek girls who slimmed down and baliage-d their dark waves to get more work? Not a single story today has pegged Aniston's coming in at No. 8 on Forbes's most-powerful-celebrities list as being mostly dueto her yoga regimen.
If anything, seeing Vardalos proudly showing off a healthy—not overly skinny—physique in summery sundresses is a welcome change from the klutzy, self-loathing Toula Portakalos, her character in Wedding. She's taken control of her life and her health. She's back in cinemas, with two 2009 releases after a years-long break from film—one she attributes to a bout of depression over her infertility issues.
And, most critically, My Life in Ruins is a horrible movie for eleventy-billion reasons—the very, very least of which is its star's newfound attractiveness. This movie includes the rhyming of "Socrates" and "feta cheese" by Richard Dreyfuss, at rock-bottom as a ribald American tourist. Vardalos's romantic interest is a hairy bus driver named (wait for it) Poupi Kakas. Even Rachel Dratch is slumming it in this movie, and she has no career to speak of.
Surely a half-star review is more justified by those things than by Vardalos's tanned, toned legs?
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
