GamerTab That was an excellent one.

VividSimon Simply Perfect

Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Devran ikiz Georgia (Nia Vardalos) is a Greek-American who comes to Greece to work as a teacher but when they cut down the budget, she loses her job and finds another one as a tour guide. Since the very beginning of the film, we see how much she hates everything and how she can't wait to get a job as a teacher and leave the country. The story focuses on the misfortunes of Georgia during one-week tour with the worst possible group and conditions ever. The group consists of recently divorced women who come to Greece for flirting, drinking Australians whose accents are not understood at all - and this is supposed to be funny-, very old British couple, constantly fighting family with an unhappy daughter, an old man who is travelling alone after his wife dies and telling funny teenager jokes, a bus with no air conditioning and a driver who looks very scary! because he has beard. All these components are supposed to prepare us for misfortunate and funny events, but they don't. This is where the story starts to fail. Other than this, acting is very bad as well. This is a romantic comedy but there is no one else other than Nia Vardalos and most of the time she is just standing around and looking into the camera. At some point, driver Poupi (Alexis Georgoulis) shaves his beard and Georgia falls in love with him even though she is 12 years older than him. After that, she ignores all the things she believes and decides to stay in Greece refusing a job as a teacher in Michigan University. I have nothing against the age difference, but this, highly affects the non-existing chemistry between the two.Artificially created problems, situations and people fail big time during the film. In the beginning, everything is bad and in the end, everything turns out to be great. How this happens is a mystery to me. In romantic comedies, there is generally a turn of events which makes things better after some point towards the end. But here nothing as such happens. The film is coming to an end, so everyone gives up and starts to act great and happy. I don't get the point of this film or why it was even made. The only good thing is the Greek ruins we see during the tour. The tour guide is crawling for sex and that's why the driver shaves and they fall in love with each other. That's pretty much it. This story could have been written by anyone because there is no story. Mike Reiss is the writer of the film and the story is based on his own travel experiences. After Nia Vardalos is involved in the film, she has re-written the story and that explains why she is in front of the camera and doing nothing. "My Life in Ruins" is directed by Donald Petrie. Its runtime is 95 minutes and it was released on June 5, 2009."My Life in Ruins" is a good commercial of Greece, even though some parts were shot in Spain. The group books the holiday to see those ruins but complains in every possible scene. This kind of irrational behaviors just for the sake of fun are not acceptable and they are not even fun. I was graduated as a tour guide and been on tours a lot of times. When I compare my own experiences with the film, I can honestly say that the situations and the people in the film are overly exaggerated. The story is not real, acting is bad, conversations and the situations are superficial. "My Life in Ruins" is a bad film and a waste of time.Generally, I tend to set aside all the bad thoughts and enjoy the film but this is not applicable for "My Life in Ruins" because it fails in every part. I really tried hard to like it but I couldn't. Normally road trips and touristic stories tend to be happy and share good thoughts. This is certainly the aim of this film as well. I just wish they would have thought a bit more about the story and create more realistic scenes and circumstances. The idea is valid. Everyone likes a holiday film. Gather a group of different people from different backgrounds, put obstacles on the way and let the heroine fight with them through her way to happiness. "My Life in Ruins" wastes its all opportunities to be a good film and misses all the exits. Before finishing my review, I still have one question in my mind, why Tom Hanks got involved in the film as a co-producer? I wonder if his wife Rita Wilson, being an American-Greek, has anything to do with it, like in the sweet romantic comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

billycollins97 This a comedy that shows many examples why comedy should not be like this film.Georgia (Nia Vardalos), an out of luck woman working in Greece as a tour guide unexpectedly finds love with a bearded bus driver named Poupi (pronounced Poopie in English) and friendship with an Jewish American widower, Iriv (Richard Dreyfuss). Like Iriv, every non-Greek characters are embarrassingly stereotyped for example, an Australian couple with sickening accents and always have a can of Fosters beer every time they appear, a snobby British couple with a bratty teenage daughter, a man from Miami in his 20s who easily reminds of you of a party fan from the 1990s and more stereotyped characters.I haven't seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding but i heard it was a sleeper hit and Nia received an Academy Award nomination for her writing should have written this instead of former Simpsons writer, Mike Reiss.I only liked one joke where the Miami man received a shirt from another tourist that says 'I love Greece' in Greek language but later, he was hanging out with two Greek men and Georgia alerted him that the shirt actually says 'Enter at Rear', revealing that the Greek men are stereotypically gay.I don't mind comedies that are meant to be fun and and not serious like Scary Movie or Red Dog (it looks stereotyped but its accurate since its set in the 70s so don't complain) but using the majority of the film with stereotypes isn't the answer to it. I recommend MBFGW than this poorly acted and unoriginal comedy.

Luis Carlos Palazuelos As a professional tour guide I think the movie is a very close approach to the real tour experience dealing with all kind of people, problems on the road, hotel reservations, personal matters, etc. I enjoyed watching the movie and I recommend it to all my colleagues and future tour guides.I am planning using the movie to take a test to my students by watching the movie and getting important lessons about guiding and dealing with people. As many other professions, the key is to enjoy what you do, to suit the peoples's interests to the tour script and make traveling a wonderful experience beyond cold facts. Actors did not get any Oscar, but they did a fine job and gave us a fun time, specially to the ones that know the "language" of tourism.

edwagreen Whether it's "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium," or any other film with tourists, the common theme is always that we're along for a joyful ride. "My Life in Ruins" is certainly no exception to this rule.A Nia Vardalos plays an American who came to Greece to teach at a university. When the job fizzles, she lands a position as a tourist guide. She is rated just about average for the job.She is on her last outing when she meets a lot of engaging people. They in turn teach her about life. Richard Dreyfuss is an absolute standout as Irv, a widowed ice cream taster, who has much of a philosophy about life and learning.An assortment of interesting people provide comic relief in this very satisfying film. The tour itself of ancient Athens with the Parthenon and Delph Oracle is really satisfying. Yes, there is also romance along the way.