Movie Notes: Muriel’s Wedding
= 4 stars
Starring Toni Collette, Rachel Griffiths
Directed by P.J. Hogan
Synopsis
Growing up in Porpoise Spit, Australia sucks. Murie (Toni Collette), a hopeless romantic ABBA fan and compulsive liar, moves to Sydney with her new friend Rhonda (Rachel Griffiths).
The Good
- Two present day stars in early roles.
- ABBA songs galore — I’m a sucker for this.
- The plot gets quite of twisty near the end, especially with a really ill-advised wedding to a professional swimmer.
- Overall, there’s a tricky emotional balance between brevity and fun and some truly depressing subject matter, namely cancer and suicide.
The Bad
- Certainly a chick flick in every sense of the word — weddings, bitchy girlfriends, lip syncing, a few hot guys, and some tear jerking moments. Nary an explosion or gunfire to be found.
Conclusion
I’m a closet ABBA fan and therefore many of the film’s moments had more appeal than they probably should. Still, the film breaks from the typical romantic comedy in several ways and deals with some atypical subjects. Lastly, it’s very unpredictable until the very end.
IMDB: Muriel’s Wedding
Wikipedia: Muriel’s Wedding
Rotten Tomatoes: Muriel’s Wedding 90%