The tag line of MY LIFE IN RUINS says that its star (of MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING) finally goes to Greece.  That she does, working as a tour operator but with disastrous results.  The film is a romantic comedy at heart, full of clichéd material and stereotyped characters.  It begins funny for at least 10 minutes or so, and goes downhill so fast, the film probably hits rock bottom of the ocean and comes out in China by the end of the movie.

A tour guide, Georgia (Nia Vardalos) is so uptight that her tour groups find her tours un-fun.  She is romantically uninvolved as well.  The plot of MY LIFE IN RUINS has Georgia find her true love (Alexis Georgoulis) during what is supposed to be her final tour.  She is aided by an annoying American tourist Irv (played by the annoying Richard Drefuss) who in reality has a heart of gold.

There are lots of jokes throughout the film, some funny and others not.  All the tourist jokes are there, most of them heard before if one has attended a tour excursion.  No real insight is offered – none expected, to be fair, but the audience is treated to a few nice sight of Greece and her ruins.

MY LIFE IN RUINS would have not got zero rating except that it hits the putrid mark.  This means that the film contains parts so appalling that it almost made me walk out of the cinema.  One such part concerns an unfunny segment in which a fat kid is given a T-shirt saying ‘my rear is open’ in Greek.  One would think the writer, Mike Reiss (what is surprising is that he penned the animated film QUEER DUCK) would have left homophobic humour out of films at this time and age.  Worst still, the kid is hounded by gay Greek locals, again stereotyping Greeks as homosexuals.  One further scene has the Canadians in the tour group called Americans by the guide, then screaming and attacking him for not making the distinction between Americans and Canadians.  This segment would surely infuriate Americans, a prime target audience for this film.  What are the filmmakers thinking?

This is one film in ruins from the very start!  Avoid this one at all costs and save the money for a tour!