Muriel's Wedding

The first of a few classic Australian films coming up for your viewing or reviewing pleasure. The guilty pleasure that is Muriel's Wedding.

Muriel Heslop (Toni Collette) is an early 20 something loveable loser living with her parents, Bill and Marie and her 4 siblings in Porpoise Spit. Muriel is unemployed, listens to ABBA songs non stop, and is obsessed with having the perfect wedding but has never had a date.

Her dad is always telling the kids what lazy no hopers they all are and how they cost him his political career. Her mum is vacant, possibly has an undiagnosed mental illness or is just so empty inside because of her husband's affair and constant bleating of how useless they all are. Bill is a bit of a bigwig in the small community, president of the local council and nearly got elected into the state government but lost out on the postal vote.

Muriel has a small group of 'friends' (they tolerate her) and while at Tania's wedding, she sees the groom getting it on with the Nicole, the bridesmaid (another friend).

Classy wedding attire

Muriel's life is a joke amongst her friends, she is arrested at the wedding where a store detective alleges she stole the dress she's wearing, she gets driven home in the police car where her dad bribes them with beer to not press charges.

Her friends hold an intervention and tell her not to hang around them anymore. It is also revealed someone is having an affair with Tania's husband. They decide to all go on a holiday together, Muriel is not invited.

Later on at a family dinner, Deirdre (the woman her dad is having an affair with) drops in on the family and offers Muriel a job selling cosmetics (like Avon). Marie gives Muriel a blank cheque to buy her first cosmetics kit. Muriel cashes the cheque to the tune of about $10,000 and goes on a holidays and meets up with her friends who humiliate her.

Later on at a communal dinner, Muriel meets Rhonda (Rachel Griffiths) who she went to high school with. Rhonda is a free spirit who hated the girls Muriel calls her 'friends' and confronts Tania with the information that Nicole was the one who had an affair with her husband.

Rhonda: "I'm not alone. I'm with Muriel."

Cher?

Rhonda stood up for Muriel and did what she never could and they go on to do a nice ABBA performance at the talent night while the girls have a bitch fight in the audience.

Muriel moves to Sydney with Rhonda after the holiday, leaving her family in a spot of trouble with her dad taking even more bribes because Muriel stole their money. But she can't go back to Porpoise Spit, she feels like a different person with Rhonda, even going on a date and getting a job.

Not long after though, an ambulance is called to their shared house, Rhonda can't feel her legs. At the hospital it is revealed she has a tumour pushing on her spine and an operation is needed immediately.

Meanwhile Muriel has been going into all the bridal shops in Sydney and making up stories about a sister in a coma and getting the assistants to take photos of her which she then puts into a wedding album.

Rhonda sees her one day and confronts her about some other lies she was telling and Muriel has a breakdown about how she feels useless and how if anyone wanted to marry her the change would be complete and she'd be a new person.

The operation initially goes okay and Rhonda completes some physical therapy but then the tumor is back and she'll need another operation and won't be able to walk again. Rhonda makes Muriel promise they'll never go back to Porpoise Spit.

Muriel sees an advertisement in the paper: wife wanted, must be Australian. She meets a south African swimmer (David) who needs citizenship and will offer Muriel $10,000 to be his wife for at least 4 months. She agrees with vigour, he's not so sure about this strange girl desperate to be married. In the process she neglects Rhonda and her family.

At the huge wedding, Rhonda confronts Muriel about abandoning her and needing a friend, as she couldn't afford the rent and so she had to go back to live with her mum.

Muriels' own mum Marie is late to the wedding and Muriel misses her in all the congratulations.

That's the look you want to see on your grooms face.

A little while later, after a shoplifting incident, Bill comes back and tells Marie he wants a divorce, he is going to marry Deidre.

Marie breaks down telling her son he's embarrassing his father, but he lashes back and says she is the embarrassment. Marie cries alone at the kitchen bench.

Not long after, she dies of a stroke, so Deidre tells Muriel. Muriel's sister said she found her and found pills.

At the funeral Muriel has to run out and realises she hasn't changed marriage and wedding or not and she finds solace with David, the swimmer. They sleep together.

The next day, she tells him she can't stay with him, she needs to stop lying and face up to herself. He lets her keep the money.

She goes and sees her dad who assumes she will stay and help with the kids but she's going back to Sydney. Bill also faces up to his responsibilities, Deirdre isn't so keen on marrying him now there are kids to look after.

Muriel finds Rhonda and persuades her to come back to Sydney with her. The end.

Some points:

I get that whole marriage validation thing. You're not someone to someone loves you or some other bull crap.

I think a lot of women have very high expectations and also they feel they need that wedding to feel validated.

Toni Collette is an amazing actress as we all well know now, but even back in this film she is amazing. She was only 22 and her performance is so free of any shame and holy moly she's starring in a remake of Fright Night. Hollywood must have run out of ideas, but anyway tangent aside she is great. And apparently put on about 40 pounds for this role. I love her crazy smile and how she's always poking out her tongue. She's just so natural as Muriel.

While you wouldn't guess from my plot review, this is actually a funny movie.
I get a bit of the cultural cringe from a lot of the characters but you have empathy for at least half of them and there are some truly funny moments. There is sadness in there too though.

This is really a girl buddy movie though, Muriel and Rhonda have a great relationship but the end scene where they are kind of staring at each other in the taxi made my boyfriend comment "Are they lesbians?". Men, what can you do?

This was released in 1994 and was written and directed by PJ Hogan who has gone on to do more high profile films such as My Best Friend's Wedding (where Rachel Griffiths also had small role), Peter Pan, and Confessions of a Shopaholic.

As have his two leading ladies, Collette in United States of Tara most recently, and Griffiths in Six Feet Under (still one of the greatest shows) and Brothers and Sisters.

So see this movie if you like quirky Australian films that is not your usual drama/comedy. But if like one reviewer you find Australian accents too grating...well I hope we never meet buddy.