| Greek Mothers Never Die is an indie rom com, turned comedy, turned fantasy, turned drama about grief and tragedy, turned musical. Or something like that, with a few coming-of-age themes thrown in for good measure. It’s mostly well produced indie production that knows the story it wants to tell but at the same time needs way too many ideas to tell that story. A story about Greek mothers and daughters and boyfriends and ghosts. | | 2025
Directed by: Rachel Suissa
Screenplay by: Rachel Suissa
Starring: Abby Miner, Simon Rérolle,
and Rachel Suissa
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It starts in Greece with Ella (Abby Miner) narrating her story about Greek mothers. Ella’s mother has already found her a boyfriend at the age of thirteen. But then that boy moves to the United States, and years later, Ella’s father dies, and mother and stunted daughter are also bound for the US and the Florida coast.
The dialogue, like so much of this movie, is uneven. There are some really well written lines that I’m sure will speak to Greek women everywhere and put a smile on everyone else’s face, and then other lines that fall flat because it is over-written.
Two obvious things happen after arriving in the US: Ella’s mother dies (hello, the title and the premise) and then she runs into Nick, her first and last boyfriend and heartbreak, now a doctor living in New York. It’s hard to say how long it takes the movie to get there, the pacing is all over the place. What should have been a simple and fun romantic comedy with a ghost, just keeps going and going and evolving and never really settling down as any of the expected genres.
At first it’s reminiscent of Over Head Dead Body (the Eva Longoria and Paul Rudd romantic comedy where her ghost deliberately interrupts his love life); here, after Ella’s mother dies, Ella sees her ghost everywhere and they have conversations, including when Ella makes out with and has sex with Nick, the mother’s ghost stays and ends up in bed with them. I know the joke is that Greek mothers know no boundaries, but obviously there should be some boundaries.
The film starts dragging as a romantic comedy and then starts expanding on it, and just keeps going. It is mostly well produced; the outdoor scenes are all really well lit and staged with excellent settings, but there are some indoor transitions where you can see the lack of budget. The acting is also uneven and their inexperience in front of the camera does show up, but I also really like the casting, especially lead Abby Miner whose look fits this role perfectly.
The music is one of the better aspects of the film’s production, but I still can’t say it was wise to become a musical (the mish-mash of genres towards the end is extreme). Greek Mothers Never Die is a lot of things, but it absolutely has its heart in the right place. It was clearly made with love and you have to respect that.
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