Alicia I love this movie so much

Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

sharky_55 Muriel's Wedding is one of those films for the downtrodden, the rejects, the less than attractive members of the student body, the ones who never amount to anything. It is for the Muriels who would rather be Mariel, pretty and famous and successful. Do we know how much of Muriel's failures are a result of her neglectful and emotionally abusive upbringing at the hands of her prideful father? P.J. Hogan never gives us a straight answer - it isn't nearly as easy or simple in real life. What is rather wonderful is an early Toni Collete's blossoming performance. She is one of those people where you can almost make out the scars of acne (not quite literally), braces and bullying of high school. Before the glamour and acclaim there was this girl, the slightly chubby underachiever who sloppily applies too much red lipstick and has carved out a happy place comprised entirely of ABBA songs. And Collete's performance is so painfully naive and oblivious that even as she gets soullessly married for money and prestige she has a huge grin on her face. It's big enough to ignore her mother. The great thing about Muriel's Wedding is that it takes its story to that expected end - the high powered couple, the glamour wedding, the middle finger to the high school bullies. But it also realises and accepts that this isn't something that Muriel is fit for at all. There is the crazy, pixie-haired punk Rhonda whom has actually broken out of the mould in a much more natural and independent way - she has the intelligence to know that high school doesn't really matter anyway, and that long held grudges and deep-seated desires to one-up those bullies and prove you are better than them are silly in the end. She mouths them off in the reunion, but it's not some defining, cathartic moment it would be for Muriel. It is billed first as an offbeat comedy - and it is funny too, maybe funnier for the non-Australian audiences who will relish the way these characters cruelly and frankly cut straight to the chase, and the heavy, outrageous accents which do not give away a hint of sympathy or false pretense. But it is also dark in some spots, and painfully real. Muriel's father has long aspired to run for government, and bullied his children for never ever reaching his (rather mediocre high) achievements. We see how this has been internalised and normalised; after cruelly announcing his divorce and lamenting his shambles of a family, Betty lets off an agonising "STOP DISAPPOINTING YOUR FATHER" because she has been trained so diligently to deflect the blame away from her husband. Admittedly it does take a few wrong turns in getting there. The whole Van Arkle Olympics plot is pretty ludicrous and it takes a horrid sex scene for Muriel to actually come to her senses and for him to... fall in love with her? The whole tone of broaching that physical barrier is pretty ridiculous in fact; Muriel doesn't really know how to react when a boy actually shows her attention, so she bursts out in laughter while making out and in a rather crass bit of comedy, shrieks at her first sighting of a penis. But of course this sort of stuff comes with the package. You reap what you sow. And Muriel's Wedding recognises that a big, lavish wedding may indeed not always be the solution or the path to the happy ending.

cleary-joshua I always find it fascinating to see the early performances of well-known actors, like Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate". However I don't think any actor/actress has come as far as Toni Collette has since "Muriel's Wedding". It is almost impossible to see the same actor in both this and something recent, like "The Way, Way Back", but both performances are demonstrations of how great an actress she is. Collette, playing the title character, leads this movie effortlessly, with a hilarious and heart-breaking performance. It's a film about love, being the odd-one-out, and Australia.The film gives a strange view of Australia, similar to the one Baz Luhrmann presents in "Strictly Ballroom", with a lot of wacky characters and odd places. The town which Muriel grew up in and eventually deserts is called "Porpoise Spit", and the view of the country is a very unromantic one. It is almost fitting then that the main character is desperately seeking a husband, having been ousted from her group of friends for being a loser. She runs into an old school friend and moves to Sydney with her. Both are looking for love, and Muriel eventually finds it through David Van Arkle, a South African swimmer in need of Australian citizenship to compete in the Olympics. Her love is unrequited, but she doesn't realise this as she is too focused on finally getting married.Apart from Collette, the film is made up of a lot of great characters, each of whom have some form of running joke. The line "you're terrible, Muriel", spoken repeatedly by her sister, is always funny, as are the constant 'surprise' appearances by Deidre Chambers, who is having an affair with Muriel's father. Bill Hunter's politician-in-trouble character allows for some fantastic scenes, and as an audience, you really enjoy hating him. There is a lot of visual humour in the film, from Muriel's own appearance, to set pieces like the "bean bag scene", which gets more and more absurd as it goes along. The serious side to the film occasionally feels forced, but Collette manages to pull it together with a convincing performance and a look into Muriel's mindThe movie would not be the same without the soundtrack of infectiously energetic ABBA tracks, and their constant appearances are often really funny. (They could have adapted this into a proper musical, and there would have been no need for "Mamma Mia" to exist). Despite being slow at times, "Muriel's Wedding" is great fun, and manages to keep you laughing throughout.

Boba_Fett1138 First of all, this is obviously a chick-flick (I mean, it's a movie in which the main character is obsessed with getting married, so how could it not be one?) and if you purely take it as such, this movie still serves its purpose well and is also maintaining enough. However as a movie itself it is far too uneven and does just too much wrong to consider this a great movie in its sort.It's one of those movies that tries to combine humor with drama. And it's not very successful or effective at that, in my opinion. The movie never finds the right balance, since its comedy and characters themselves are being far too over-the-top, which never blends in very well with the movie its, supposedly, dramatic moments.But also a big problem of the movie lays with the movie its main character, played by Toni Collette. She lies to her best friends and own family, she steals and runs of with people's money and also doesn't always comes across as too bright. Somethings obviously wrong with her but in this movie you obviously are supposed to care for her and her naivety is supposed to be something sweet. Needless to say this did not always worked out that way for me at all.But it remains a movie with a sort of charm to it still. I mean, despite everything it remains a pleasant movie to watch, even while it still annoyed me at certain moments. But perhaps that is also because this is obviously supposed to be a chick-flick and I am clearly no chick last time I checked. So it's fair to say this movie is not really for me and women will be more capable of appreciating this movie for what it is.The story is also really lacking some focus at times. Sometimes certain plot lines are simply getting dropped and it often makes some sudden jumps with its story, that don't always connect too well. This also definitely goes at the expense of certain characters in this movie, which I was often more interested in.You can still see how this movie partly inspired 'Mamma Mia!' the musical and later also movie. The ABBA music often plays a central role in the movie and it often has the same sort of happy-go-lucky, colorful, type of atmosphere to it. Good and straightforward enough as a chick-flick but other than that, far too flawed to consider this a great movie.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

preppy-3 Muriel (Toni Collette) is an overweight unattractive Australian girl who loves ABBA music. She hangs around with a bunch of attractive but vicious women who tell her off every chance they get. She then meets easy-going, friendly Rhonda (Rachel Griffiths) and her life begins to change.SPOILERS!!!!! Sounds like a feel-good movie--right? WRONG! This has Muriel and some likable characters go through some incredibly horrible things again and again. For instance: Rhonda is very sexually active and (for no good reason) is crippled accidentally halfway through. Why? Because she happens to enjoy sex? Muriel's mother is treated by her husband like dirt...and she takes it. Muriel's friends have got to be the most vicious group of women I've EVER seen in any movie. Muriel meets a sweet guy who really likes her--but she dumps him to marry an attractive but empty-headed jock. That's only a few things. Again and again we're hit over the head with these depressing story turns. Seriously--what's the reason? The few good moments were blotted out by the negativity. After this was over I was utterly depressed and hated the movie. This only gets a two for the acting (Collette and Griffiths are great) and the ABBA music. But this is a seriously depressing, negative film.