#my big fat greek wedding

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

There are two kinds of people - Greeks, and everyone else who wish they was Greek.

Quote from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”

…for whatever reason, my brain screamed “ROM-COM” at me for this day. And literally just the other day, I was chatting with a friend about how great “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” is.

…so…AU! (Obviously not the “Greek” part, but, whatever, you get it.)

(Also, PERFECT USE OF BOTTICELLI’S THE BIRTH OF VENUS IS PERFECT AND SERENDIPITOUS.)

Rose works in her family’s restaurant, her parents constantly talk down to her over her not being married/a mom, compared to her perfect older sister Paige, and Rose is just…thoroughly unhappy with her life and figures being single forever and forever working at the restaurant is just what she’s destined for, because nothing ever changes. (From the movie, “Here I am, day after day, year after year, 30 and way past my expiration date.”)

Cue Hux and Kylo coming in for lunch one day, and Rose sees Hux and she’s just…smitten at first sight. Zones out staring at him, tries to brush it off awkwardly, and leaves in mortification (even if the handsome ginger man she just thoroughly embarrassed herself in front of seemed to genuinely enjoy the joke she cracked).

Anywhoozle, she tries approaching her father one night about taking a couple computer courses to help the restaurant manage inventory better and improve their business. Her dad says no at first, but her mom eventually convinces him to say yes. (To drop another great quote from the movie: “The man is the head [of the family], but the woman is the neck. And she can turn the head any way she wants.”)

Cue the only valid makeover scene/montage in ANY FILM EVER, I HAVE SO MANY OPINIONS AND FEELINGS ABOUT THIS SCENE, where Rose’s self-confidence blossoms through computer courses and she speaks up more and joins the popular girls for lunch and they actually like her, and she tries new things with makeup and contacts and how she dresses. And she looks in the mirror one day and just…beams. She likes this new, confident, self-assured Rose.

She ends up taking a position at Paige’s travel agency to put everything new she’s learned to better use. Hux passes by one day on his way to work and does a double-take at the adorable young woman working at the travel agency, practically dancing through her tasks.

Cue the second meet-cute. Cue first date. Cue Hux asking if Rose would want to go to this great little restaurant on their next date, he just found it a while ago, he’d love to take her. Cue Rose’s mostly internal but also a little external panic when he names the restaurant.

She nonchalantly says her family owns that restaurant, avoids eye contact lest Hux recognize her…and her stomach clenches as recognition dawns over his face, and he says he remembers her. The seating hostess.

“I was going through a phase up until now…um…I was Frump Girl.”

Hux just smiles. “I don’t remember Frump Girl, but I remember you.” (This is my favorite line/scene in the entire movie.)

He remembers her quick wit. He’d liked that from the start. Even when she was Frump Girl.

They fall in love, they kiss, they get engaged. He meets her eccentric family, which…honestly? He loves them? Because his own family was kind of the worst? (As soon as Rose’s mom learns this, she is IMMEDIATELY like “COME TO MY BOSOM, SWEET YOUNG MAN.”)

They get married. Happily ever after. You know the movie. (And if you don’t, GO WATCH IT.)