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Nia Vardalos, Richard Dreyfuss, Harland Williams, Rachel Dratch, Caroline Goodall ...( see more  see more... ) , Jareb Dauplaise

MY LIFE IN RUINS is a romantic comedy set amongst the ruins of Ancient Greece. Georgia (Nia Vardalos) is a Greek-American tour guide who leads an assorted group of English, Australian and American tou...( read more  read more... )rists around Greece. Tourists who would rather buy a T-shirt than learn about history. In a hysterical clash of personalities and culture, everything seems to go wrong. Until one day, a very special tourist shows her how to have fun... and turn around and take a good look at the last person with whom she'd ever expect to find love.

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43% liked it

263,928 ratings

Critics

10% liked it

111 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 38 min.

Directed by: Donald Petrie

Release Date: June 5, 2009

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DVD Release Date: October 6, 2009

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Stats: 4,323 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (4,323)

  • cartersimo
    February 1, 2010
    cartersimo
    OPA!...good greek humour
  • sononothing
    January 9, 2010
    sononothing
    Do I really need to go over the plot of this film? Do I? It's like every other film of its ilk that's shot out of Hollywood in the last thirty years. OK, let's do this review as a quiz and you can score yourself:

    1) Georgia (Nia Vardolos) is a Greek history professor who can not...( read more) find work or a man. In the course of this film she will...

    A. Make Gyros B. Find a man and get a job offer, but turn the job offer down for her man. C. Introduce communism as a viable political philosophy for the Greeks.

    2) Richard Dreyfuss plays a man who is a smart ass, talks about going on trips with his wife, but his wife isn't there. Where is she? A. In a better movie. B. She left him for Val Kilmer. C. She's dead.

    3) The hairy bus driver that never talks will be... A) Judge Lance Ito B) A bus driver. C) The "man".

    Add in some stereotypical tourists and you're all set. You've got the movie. Enjoy. Thanks for playing.
  • ScoopOnline
    December 11, 2009
    ScoopOnline
    And I wish that was me. lol
  • irisheyes686
    October 20, 2009
    irisheyes686
    I thought this was adorable! I was cracking up almost the entire time. Sure, there were some cheesy parts, but I really enjoyed it.
  • PvtCaboose91
    October 20, 2009
    PvtCaboose91
    "Greece. A year ago I hit rock bottom, so I came here to reconnect with my soul - find my mojo. Or kefi, as the Greeks call it."


    Throughout My Life in Ruins, a couple of characters are frequently told that they're not as funny as they believe they are. Unfortuna

    ...( read more)tely, those watching the film will echo this sentiment as they endure the clichés and predictable scenarios it provides, on top of the forced attempts at humour that wouldn't pass muster for the world's worst sitcoms. My Life in Ruins is a generic romantic comedy that has no clue when it comes to romance, comedy, or above all charm. The "comedy" is based almost entirely on stereotyping nationalities, the story is trite, and the main coupling is devoid of that hard-to-pin rom-com necessity: chemistry! This godawful motion picture merely plays out like an obnoxiously terrible, been-there-seen-that sitcom. "Ruins" is indeed an apt descriptor of this flick.


    My Life in Ruins follows a history-professor-turned-tour-guide living in Greece named Georgia (Vardalos). She hates her job, fusses because she's always assigned the second-rate tourists, and finds faults with everything in Greece that isn't a few thousand years old. Feeling the job is beneath her, and having a deep love for Greek history, Georgia tends to bore her tour companions by offering historical trivia when they'd rather shop for souvenirs, grab an ice cream or spend a day at the beach. In a traditional rom-com Character Rehabilitation Journey (TM), Georgia attempts to regain her "kefi" (Greek for "mojo") through guiding a group of difficult tourists around Greece.


    The core of the story is about Georgia's life view being changed when she falls in love with the tour's bus driver, Poupi (Georgoulis), and her learning a thing or two from the most flamboyant of the tourists, Irv (Dreyfuss). Suffice to say, by the film's dénouement Georgia has transformed herself from boring, inept tour guide into the best that Greece has to offer, and she's beloved by everyone in her group. Georgia also has a nemesis in the form of competing tour guide Nico (McGowan) who wants to torture her into quitting, but he's eventually humiliated and decides to quit himself. There's a bored teenage girl (Stuckey) in the film as well who is at first reluctant about Greece but eventually finds the guy of her dreams... Stop me if any of this sounds familiar... The problem with My Life in Ruins is that this isn't a lively rerun of every rom-com cliché in existence - it's a dreary tour through Clichéville that wouldn't be interesting even if it was original.


    The screenplay by Mike Reiss (a sitcom writer, unsurprisingly) utilises the multiple-day tour as an excuse to showcase brainless cultural stereotypes which are as plentiful as they are offensive. The woeful surface-level caricatures range from boorish Americans and drunk Aussie bogans with an unlimited supply of Foster's (who should be deported for treason) to snooty shoplifting seniors from England and sexed-up Spanish cougars. There's a corporate representative thrown in the mix as well, who spends his screen-time making pancake puns. Pancake puns! Surely there were funnier avenues to explore with this plotline - all we get are unfunny one-liners, cheap detours into homophobia, and Nia Vardalos mugging the camera in an alarming manner. Screenwriter Reiss spent a period writing The Simpsons when it was actually good (he even wrote the feature film), so where is that wit?! Rather than wittiness, Reiss conceives characters named Poupi and Doudi... How ironic it is that infantile poo jokes have been used for a turd of a comedy.


    At the helm of My Life in Ruins is Donald Petrie, whose filmography is so badly tarnished that it's surprising any producer (let alone Tom Hanks) would allow him anywhere near a project of potential value (his prior cinematic "masterpieces" include Just My Luck and Welcome to Mooseport). Not only is Petrie despondently clueless when it comes to conjuring a ghost of a romantic spark between Vardalos and Georgoulis, but he's also unable to accomplish what should've been the easiest task: gorgeous scenery. Greece is incredibly photogenic, yet this director imbues the movie with a depressingly commonplace look. Even an amateur home video taken by a bunch of tourists would be less dreary than this.


    Nia Vardalos is practically a one-hit acting wonder. After My Big Fat Greek Wedding, her career has only spiralled downwards. In My Life in Ruins, there's nothing human about her character - she plays a walking cliché, and her performance is unable to elevate the material. She's slightly watchable, but spending 90 minutes with her is too much.
    The rest of the cast is left floundering amid a sea of exasperating stereotypes. It should come as no surprise that Richard Dreyfuss is the film's only bright spot - he isn't enough to make this rubbish tolerable as a whole, but the actor deserves some credit. Playing the character who dispenses homespun wisdom (essentially the Midwestern version of Morgan Freeman), Dreyfuss appears to commit to the moronic antics that are asked of him, which is either the result of terrific professional courtesy or heavy drinking in between takes. His constantly weary expression is most likely a sign of grief due to being coaxed into starring in this crap purely for the money and sightseeing opportunities.


    Ostensibly a film about the protagonist's mental transformation, My Life in Ruins is really just a long scenic tour of every rom-com cliché imaginable. It's a profoundly nauseating film that grows progressively more repellent as time goes by... A beautiful place like Greece deserves a far better travelogue than this, and a better spokesperson than the utterly charmless Vardalos. It seems that even with excellent movies hitting cinemas in this day and age (like Up or Drag Me to Hell), awful movies like My Life in Ruins are always lurking around the corner, waiting to pounce upon us and remind us that bad films are just as common - if not more common - than the quality ones.
  • chadroesti
    February 1, 2010
    chadroesti
    Average Romantical comedy with some funny portions, usually when Richard Dreyfuss was involved. Nia Vardalos does a good a job here as in Fat Greet Wedding. Richard Dreyfuss is also a scene stealer in the portions he is in. Overall not bad for a chick flick.
  • fslsarfaraz
    January 28, 2010
    fslsarfaraz
    This mess - henceforth to be known as My Big Fat Greek Tragedy - is the most embarrassing thing to come out of the Eastern Med since Prince Philip. While Vardalos does her big fat best to keep it fresh, the duff characters and uninspired direction make Greece look as appealing as...( read more) a week-old kebab.
  • avatar416
    January 26, 2010
    avatar416
    Not as good as My Big Fat Greek Wedding but still charming.
  • WorldsWarrior
    January 26, 2010
    WorldsWarrior
    Saw it on the plane home from Egypt. I loved it!
  • ChristinaLovesMovies
    January 25, 2010
    ChristinaLovesMovies
    unfortunately, this movie was not half as funny or entertaining as My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I guess I wasn't expecting it to be. even though the script was a little lame and the characters were really fake, I thought this movie was light hearted and funny. not bad, overall.

View All My Life in Ruins (Driving Aphrodite) Reviews

Critic Reviews

October 4, 2009
Nigel Andrews, The Financial Times

Think of Shirley Valentine and take away charm, wit, realism and Pauline Collins. full review

June 7, 2009
Pete Hammond, Hollywood.com

As a travelogue of Greece, it's swell but the script feels like a warmed-over episode of "The Love Boat". full review

June 5, 2009
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

Half the time I wanted everyone to shut up so I could hear the tour guide lecture on the Temple of Hephaestus, or wherever. Then I wanted them to shut up so I could sleep. full review

June 5, 2009
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

A romantic comedy that bathes in clichés before rinsing off with sentimentality and spritzing itself with lame jokes. The result is, alas, a bit whiffy. full review

June 5, 2009
Claudia Puig, USA Today

My Life in Ruins plays out more like a thuddingly bad, been-there, seen-that sitcom. Even the sight of breathtaking ancient monuments don't keep it from crumbling. full review

June 4, 2009
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Rarely has a film centered on a character so superficial and unconvincing, played with such unrelenting sameness. I didn't hate it so much as feel sorry for it. full review

View more My Life in Ruins (Driving Aphrodite) reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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