My Life in Ruins (2009)

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
Georgia (Nia Vardalos) came to Greece to follow a man. A few years later, she's been cast aside, alone and adrift in a foreign land. Eventually, her passion for history leads her to a job as a tour guide. But Georgia is bored, and has lost her 'kefi' (Greek for mojo) to boot. When taciturn sasquatch Poupi (Alexis Georgoulis) replaces the regular driver at the last minute, the frazzled tour guide thinks that her luck has just hit rock bottom. Thankfully, Georgia's latest batch of tourists is a more lively bunch than she's anticipated, and in between bouts with rival tour guide Nico (Alistair McGowan), she manages to form a genuine connection with wisecracking widower Irv (Richard Dreyfuss), a solo vacationer who maintains a jovial facade despite the fact that he misses his late wife dearly. With a little help from Irv, Georgia comes to realize that true love may be closer than she thinks, if she could just recapture her kefi and open her eyes.

AMAZON REVIEW
The combination of the appealing Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) and the breathtaking location shooting in Greece make Driving Aphrodite (My Life in Ruins) the perfect film escape. The film works as a feather-light romantic comedy, with Vardalos's character, Georgia, facing burnout in her job with a cut-rate tour company in Greece. Georgia knows there's magic in the Greek countryside and history, yet the grind of her job has drained her. Happily for Georgia, her latest group of semi-challenging tourists will help her shed some of her hard-built personal armor, guiding her to cut loose as the tour progresses (a journey mirrored in Vardalos's hairstyle, which starts out prim, and ends up attractively tousled). The strong supporting cast includes Richard Dreyfus, seeming very comfortable playing an old coot, Rita Wilson, and the dreamy Greek actor Alexis Georgoulis, a bus driver with the soul of a poet. And possibly a secret crush on the oblivious Georgia. But the true star of the film is Greece itself, from the coastline to the mountains, from the Acropolis to the Parthenon. That so few American films are shot on location makes this summer treat even more appealing, as sweet as fresh baklava. --A.T. Hurley