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Movies / Upcoming / My Life in Ruins
My Life in Ruins

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My Life in Ruins (2009)

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Reviews Counted:110

Fresh:11

Rotten:99

Average Rating:3.6/10

Consensus: With stereotypical characters and a shopworn plot, My Life in Ruins is a charmless romantic comedy.

Australian Rating: PG [See Full Rating] Mild sexual references and coarse language

Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins

Genre: Comedies

Australian Theatrical Release:
Jul 16, 2009 Wide

US Box Office: $8,474,608

Synopsis: From Nia Vardalos, writer and star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, comes the uplifting comedy My Life in Ruins. Georgia (Nia Vardalos) has lost her kefi (Greek for “mojo”). Discouraged by her lack... From Nia Vardalos, writer and star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, comes the uplifting comedy My Life in Ruins. Georgia (Nia Vardalos) has lost her kefi (Greek for “mojo”). Discouraged by her lack of direction in life, she works as a travel guide, leading a rag-tag group of tourists as she tries to show them the beauty of her native Greece while waiting to land her dream job. Opening their eyes to an exotic foreign land, she too begins to see things in new ways—finding her kefi and possibly love in the process. --© Fox Searchlight [More]

Starring: Nia Vardalos, Richard Dreyfuss, Maria Adanez, Sheila Bernette

Starring: Nia Vardalos, Richard Dreyfuss, Maria Adanez, Sheila Bernette, Maria Botto, Rachel Dratch, Alexis Georgoulis, Ralph Nossek, Bernice Stegers, Harland Williams, Ian Gomez

Director: Donald Petrie

Director: Donald Petrie
Screenwriter: Mike Reiss
Producer: Michelle Chyzdik Smith, Nathalie Marciano
Composer: David Newman
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures

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Reviews for My Life in Ruins

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1 - 20 (sorted by comments; Australian critics are listed first)
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We almost get to care about Georgia's fate, if it weren't for the fact that none of the film rings true and real

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
07/10/09
Andrew L. Urban
Andrew L. Urban
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

My Big Fat Greek Disaster as the familiar sights of mainstream romcoms are presented in a terrible, uninspired tour.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine Australasia | comment Comment
07/12/09
Hilton Thomas
Hilton Thomas
Empire Magazine Australasia
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film contains a constant stream of lowbrow gags and pratfalls as Georgia lurches her way towards happiness, romance and a secure job in the Grecian tourist trade. It's lightweight, inoffensive fluff.

Full Review Source: The Age (Australia) | comment Comment
07/17/09
Jim Schembri
Jim Schembri
The Age (Australia)
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Tired and cliche-ridden, saved only by the authentic scenery, with the movie allowed unprecedented access to sites in Greece such as The Acropolis.

Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia) | comment Comment
07/17/09
Liz Graham
Liz Graham
FILMINK (Australia)
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There's no denying Nia Vardalos' appeal as the stitched up Greek tour guide lacking in people skills who discovers there is romance in more than classical history, but it is all too simplistic and contrived

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
07/10/09
Louise Keller
Louise Keller
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The main attraction of the film is visiting some of the great sites of Greece.

Full Review Source: At the Movies (Australia) | comment Comment
07/16/09
Margaret Pomeranz
Margaret Pomeranz
At the Movies (Australia)
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Petrie, who handled slapstick with ease in Miss Congeniality, has lost his timing with this one. There's none of the blithely nonsensical spirit that infuses the atmosphere when actors are enjoying themselves.

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
07/24/09
Sandra Hall
Sandra Hall
Sydney Morning Herald
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film feels slighter than its hugely successful predecessor.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph (Australia) | comment Comment
07/16/09
Vicky Roach
Vicky Roach
Daily Telegraph (Australia)
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

'Ruins' is indeed an apt descriptor for this picture.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment 2 Comments
06/05/09
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

Embarrassingly bad. Will kill Greece tourism. A torturous bore.

Full Review Source: FilmsInReview.com | comment 2 Comments
06/02/09
Victoria Alexander
Victoria Alexander
FilmsInReview.com

It's not that this premise is so altogether improbable -- what tourist hasn't bonded with strangers while sharing close quarters in a foreign land? -- but that it feels tired from the start.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment 1 Comment
05/05/09
Lael Loewenstein
Lael Loewenstein
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

My Life in Ruins will neither ruin nor change nor significantly impact your life.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment 1 Comment
06/05/09
Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune

The film is sweet and has a jolly holiday feel but is sadly let down by Nia's unfunny acting.

Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
10/04/09
Sun Online

This laboured romantic comedy has little to recommend it beyond the picture-postcard locations.

Full Review Source: Daily Express | comment Comment
10/04/09
Allan Hunter
Allan Hunter
Daily Express

So why did I have such a good time at such a spectacularly middling movie? Nia Vardalos.

Full Review Source: MSNBC | comment Comment
06/02/09
Alonso Duralde
Alonso Duralde
MSNBC

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 Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
06/05/09
Amy Biancolli
Amy Biancolli
Houston Chronicle

Vardalos huffs that the culture that made her a millionaire is made of slackers, molesters and thieves.

Full Review Source: I.E. Weekly | comment Comment
06/05/09
Amy Nicholson
Amy Nicholson
I.E. Weekly

Feels like its been churned out by some auto-plot generator.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
10/04/09
Andrew Pulver
Andrew Pulver
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Might as well be called My Big Fat Greek Package Holiday.

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
10/04/09
Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Independent

It doesn’t feel genuine at all, it feels contrived from start to finish.

Full Review Source: At the Movies | comment Comment
06/08/09
Ben Lyons
Ben Lyons
At the Movies
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by comments; Australian critics are listed first)
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