My Life in Ruins

My Life in Ruins (2009) is Donald Petrie's romantic comedy you can watch online on iFILM. Nia Vardalos plays Georgia, a Greek-American academic who dreamed of teaching history and instead got stuck in Athens herding tourists.

Georgia drags busloads of vacationers around the ruins of Greece, none of whom care about the Acropolis when there are snow globes and ice cream to buy. She's burned out, single, and stiff as one of her own museum pieces. One tour changes that. The group fills up with loud oddballs, and the silent, bearded driver Poupi (Alexis Georgoulis) doesn't even speak her language. Richard Dreyfuss plays a widowed passenger whose gentle nudges help Georgia rediscover her kefi — the Greek word for a real appetite for living.

It's breezy summer postcard cinema, shot on the actual ancient sites. The plot telegraphs every beat right down to the last kiss, and nobody will mistake it for ambitious. But Vardalos, back in the lane she found with My Big Fat Greek Wedding, plays it warmly, and the Aegean scenery forgives a lot of the sweetness. Perfect for a holiday mood. Stream My Life in Ruins (2009) online on iFILM.