Kefi, a main theme in the film, is the Greek word for mojo. Unfortunately for My Life In Ruins, that’s one of the many things it lacks. The story centers on Georgia (Nia Vardalos) who lost her ‘kefi’ and is in a miserable job as a Greek tour guide as she tries to find the mojo, or possibly love, along the way. Seeing the trailers, I already came into the theaters with the implications that it would be a fairly more lighthearted Under the Tuscan Sun but with a lot more Greek mixed into it. Instead it turned out to be a mediocre story with barely likeable characters and will want you to tell this movie to keep on looking for its kefi, it didn’t find it yet.
Anyone find my kefi? I think it slipped under a seat in here.
Yes, Nia Vardalos is a fine actress, someone myself and others thoroughly enjoyed in her 2002 sleeper hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The spark of personality that should be inhabiting her character in this film is nothing but a fleeting thought. When she’s going through all sorts of miserable little pieces of her life throughout the first day of the tour, its really hard to feel sorry for her. Her character is so completely uptight and is apparently loosening up (obviously) as the movie progresses, but when she gets aid from others it looks like Vardalos is getting cues as when to act better. We don’t know what she’s going through, its never even told to us why she hates it there and what made her move over there, but apparently that can be saved as a after thought because heaven forbid we forget the one dimensional supporting cast!
Right away though I have to push Richard Dreyfuss as Irv away from the pack, being what is one of the most entertaining and actually interesting characters in the entire film, even at times toppling the character of Georgia. Actually putting some charm and heart into the role, what was once labeled as the stereotyped ‘funny guy’ turns out to be a misunderstood man trying to fulfill a promise for a dead wife. Alexis Georgoulis sets himself as the suave and scruffy looking Poupi, a character who seemingly is trying to make Georgia more interesting but obviously enjoys stalking her for a majority of the film. Yeah, as if we could not see him as a love interest already. Alexis is not a bad actor at all, and next to Dreyfuss are the two most slightly more developed characters within the entire film. Everyone else in the supporting cast sets themselves perfectly in these stereotypes Georgia sets them as five minutes into the movie. All of them are completely uninteresting, annoying and you just wish they’d fall off the edge of an Athens cliff rather than deal with them for the rest of the movie.
Mike Reiss seems to be going for a more bipolar take on what genre this particular film should be. Fox Searchlight markets it as a lighthearted woman-trying-to-rediscover-herself film and then Reiss bounces us up and down between being a semi serious piece to becoming painfully childish in its humor. Your not sure how to feel most of the time because the film cannot make up its own mind of where it wants to be and who you should really be caring for the most (between Georgia, Irv, Poupi, practically everyone). By the time Vardalos’ character makes it out of her first landmark, your wishing the bus can turn around and bring you back to its starting point. The tacky and weak dialogue does not help matters either, making you really think here and there throughout the movie if half of the dialogue came from a rough draft of the script.
From a more visual standpoint, there is no complaints at all. Bringing a beautiful look at all of the famous sites and really immersing you into the gorgeous setting of this modern day Greece, the film could purely make you fall in love with itself on its visuals. I give no blame for director Donald Petrie for trying to bring this bland script to life, still implementing the best that he can with so little to try and convey a story was still decent in itself for his part.
Already I know I won’t be able to stop the fans of Nia Vardalos from flocking over to watch it. It’s an overall not so decent flick with hardly any laughs, any sort of connection and makes you want to fly your mind back to whatever country you live in. My Life In Ruins takes one big step in front and falls right on its ass.
Rating: 
Now I feel justified in missing this one … thanks for taking the bullet.