Feel-Good Movie: "My Life in Ruins"

Don't you love those rocos (romantic comedies)or comedies that you can see over-and-over? I fell prey to one tonight - "My Life in Ruins". It follows the standard equation = quirky + cultural + romance + happy ending. And Nia Vardalos just eminates happiness. I'm always curious as to who are playing the greeks - are they american actors? or really greek actors? As my research hit imdb.com, here's what I discovered...

...allow me to introduce you to a real Greek actor - Alexis Georgoulis. He plays the character and of course, love interest, Poupi Kakis. He's even from Larisa, Greece. It seems he was a regular on the greek tv show, "Eisai to tairi mou" ("You Are My Mate"), playing the character, Sotiris Bezentakos.

Busted! Playing Poupi's nephew, Doudi (Kakis) is Nacho Perez who is from Madrid. It was too good to be true! I see he was in Pedro Almodovar's "Bad Education".

Double busted and but of course, expected is Ian Gomez, who is Nia Vardalos's husband in real life. He did a great job playing a dirty, pervy hotel clerk. But come on, you know who HE is. He was a series regular on "Felicity" playing Javier, the gay Dean + Deluca manager with Keri Russell, "The Drew Carey Show" and now "Cougar Town". He's an old pro! And of course, he played John Corbett's best friend on "My Big Fat Greek Wedding".

Triple busted! Alistair McGowan, who plays Nia Vardalos's nemesis Nico is bloody british! Apparently his popularity was realized on the show, "Big Impression" in which Mr. McGowan can apparently do over one hundred impersonations, including such celebrities as Tony Blair and Prince Charles. Guess he had a greek tour guide down on his list, too!

Let's not forget the heavy hitter, Richard Dreyfus, who plays the "class" clown of the tour group. Or most notably known for Mr. Holland from "Mr. Holland's Opus" or come on - the dad on "What About Bob?". Even Rita Wilson makes a brief cameo as his deceased wife. (It helps when you're an executive producer on the film.)

Enjoy this film but also be on the lookout for the comedian Harland Williams, who I loved as the weirdo hitchhiker on "There's Something About Mary", Rachel Dratch (former SNL cast member), newcomer Jareb Dauplaise who's been on the MTV show, "The Hard Times of RJ Berger", Groundlings Alum Brian Palermo, and the lovely brit - Caroline Goodall.