What happens when you discover you’ve never been legally married after 50 years?

That’s the premise behind My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 – one that actually caught me a little off guard.

I’ll be honest, my wife and I watched the original 14 years ago, but I couldn’t tell you much about it. I remember it was pleasant and it centered around the pitfalls of planning a wedding for Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos, who also wrote the screenplay) and her non-Greek husband-to-be Ian Miller (John Corbett). I figured as I settled in my seat, it would be about planning the wedding of their daughter Paris (Elena Kampouris).

But, no. While researching his heritage, patriarch Gus Portokalos (Michael Constantine) discovers his marriage certificate to wife Maria (Lainie Kazan) was never signed amid the confusion of World War II in Greece. So, technically, the two were never legally married.

The local priest would not just sign the document, but is willing to renew their vows so they can be married “officially.”

And the fun begins.

Maria initially scoffs at the idea of needing to be married again after 50 years together, but agrees to go through with it … if Gus will ask her properly. Gus refuses and Maria pushes him to the couch in response. When he ends up needing to go to the hospital and Maria refuses to go with him, he publicly pleads with her to marry him, and she agrees.

The caveat, however, is Maria wants the wedding of her dreams. They hire a wedding planner, but as the family gets more and more involved in decisions, the planner bails and the whole family (including Ian’s parents) pitches in to make it happen.

Another plot twist is the arrival of Gus’ brother from Greece. The two had not spoken in years, but reconcile – on the day of the wedding – over some ouzo. Unfortunately, the ouzo continues to flow on the way to the church, resulting in Gus, brother Panos (Mark Margolis) and grandson/nephew Taki (Gerry Mendicino) becoming giggling drunk at the front of the church as Maria is ready for her grand entrance.

Instead of heading down the aisle, she heads to vestry thinking Gus isn’t taking her seriously. But Panos intervenes and confides to her Gus needs her. When she peeks through the curtain and sees Gus’ face light up at the sight of her once more, she agrees to go through with the wedding.

A side plot is the fate of Paris, who is mulling whether to stay local at Northwestern {the film is sited in Chicago} or NYU. Knowing her parents would like to see her at Northwestern, she makes her choice, but a conversation with great-grandma (Bess Meisler) makes her realize she really wants to go to New York.

And, of course, the whole family gets involved as she settles into the dorm at NYU.

Throughout the film, Toula and Ian are busy trying to “fix” their marriage, which has gotten stale with the interference and busy schedules. It has some interesting moments — and laughs, although predictably — but, in my opinion, it wasn’t central to the storyline.

I recognized many of the actors as holdovers from the original. Actually most of the principals and support staff – brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins – returned.

It wasn’t a rollicking laughfest, but during the 93 minute run time, throughout the theater, there were constant snickers, laughs and smiles.

I call it a winner based on that.

And as I walked out, it struck me. They could have been Italian.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Sometimes silence is the best answer. You can never be misquoted by remaining silent.