Nia Vardalos’s first movie in five years

“My Life in Ruins,” Nia Vardalos’s first movie in five years, might as well be titled “How Georgia Got Her Kefi Back” — Georgia being Ms. Vardalos’s character, a Greek-American tour guide in the old country, and kefi being the Greek word for joy, high spirits, life force, whatever. This transparent bid to repeat the success of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” the 2002 blockbuster that made Ms. Vardalos the movies’ ultimate one-hit wonder, will be counted a success if it grosses one-tenth of its forerunner’s $368 million worldwide take. Because her 2004 follow-up, “Connie and Carla,” earned only $11.3 million, the chances of that are iffy.

Directed by Donald Petrie (“Miss Congeniality,” “Grumpy Old Men”) from a screenplay by Mike Reiss that is larded with stale 1970s-style sitcom humor, “My Life in Ruins” has none of the homey authenticity of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” (which Ms. Vardalos wrote). Seven years after her breakthrough, Ms. Vardalos may be slimmer and more glamorous, but she seems less real. Her character is an aspiring professor who, desperate for work, has taken a job as a guide for a second-rate touring outfit that buses visitors to the Parthenon and other ancient sites.

The screenplay’s notion of wit is to name the shaggy, uncommunicative driver of Georgia’s broken-down tour bus Poupi Kakas (Alexis Georgoulis); its idea of romance is to have this frog, whom someone refers to as Sasquatch, turn into Prince Charming. All it takes is a shave and a trim and the revelation that the monosyllabic oaf really speaks perfect English; and when he takes off his shirt, ooh la la! His transformation is the latter-day equivalent of that magic Hollywood moment when a homely secretary, upon removing her glasses, is revealed as a knockout.

The stereotypically obnoxious passengers aboard the rickety bus include snooty Britons, man-hungry Spanish spitfires, beer-guzzling Australians and boorish Americans who would rather shop for tchotchkes than sightsee. There is an adorable little old lady who happens to be a kleptomaniac. The noisiest traveler is Irv (Richard Dreyfuss), a shtick-spewing, Viagra-popping widower who, at the Oracle of Delphi, delivers self-help bromides through a hole in the stone.

Under the warming Greek sun this crabby crew eventually mellows into a smiley-faced extended family caught up in the spirit of kefi. By the end of a movie that shamelessly refers to both “Zorba the Greek” and “Never on Sunday,” Georgia has metamorphosed into a veritable Zorbette of sexy good vibes.

“My Life in Ruins” is not likely to spur much tourism to Greece. The sights, though impressive, are not photographed interestingly, and the citizens of the host country are less than welcoming. Before the advent of kefi the tourists are jammed into a crummy hotel in which nothing works. With the exception of Poupi, the Greeks are portrayed as lazy, lecherous peddlers who are more than happy to make fools of visitors and, when possible, to rob them blind.

“My Life in Ruins” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It has off-color humor and some strong language.

MY LIFE IN RUINS

Opens on Friday nationwide.

Directed by Donald Petrie; written by Mike Reiss; director of photography, José Luis Alcaine; edited by Patrick J. Don Vito; music by David Newman; production designer, David Chapman; produced by Michelle Chydzik Sowa and Nathalie Marciano; released by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes.

WITH: Nia Vardalos (Georgia), Richard Dreyfuss (Irv), María Ádanez (Lena), Sheila Bernette (Dorcas), María Botto (Lala), Jareb Dauplaise (Gator), Rachel Dratch (Kim), Alexis Georgoulis (Poupi), Simon Gleeson (Ken) and Ian Gomez (Hotel Clerk).

From:movies.nytimes.com