My Life in Ruins is infinitely more interesting if you know the personal back-story of its star, Nia Vardalos. Who could forget her from 2003’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding? Next came Connie and Carla in 2004, then a long, hiatus until she resurfaced in 2008 in the short-lived TV series My Boys. She’s finally back on screen, slimmed down and toned up, playing an American tour guide in Greece who has lost her mojo, or her “kefi” as they call it there.

It seems that Vardalos completely related to her character, Georgia, because for about four years, she fought a losing fertility battle, and admits she lost her mojo in the process. It’s no surprise that her character’s vulnerability, despair and confusion practically leap off the screen and onto your lap. Her Greek employers take advantage of her and make fun of her, the bizarre members of her tour group, themselves hardly paragons of emotional stability, are rebellious and ridicule her, and her bus driver’s name is Poupi Kakas. But yet, things get worse as they wend their way through the amazing Greek countryside. This film will do more for Greek tourism than any advertising campaign ever dreamed up.

You can tell from the trailers exactly what happens. You know from the start that her mojo will return, you just don’t know exactly how, and therein lies the fun. It seems Georgia is not the only one who needs to reclaim her mojo, and each character’s needs are met, some in very touching ways, others more comical. This is not a summer blockbuster – it’s more of a quaint little diversion. If you can’t afford to go to Greece this summer, (and who can?) you’ll enjoy the country’s beauties for an hour or two, and feel as if you’ve been on a mini-vacation.

Rated PG-13

—Lisa Johnson Mandell