Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 25, 1995 TAG: 9503270057
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHERINE REED STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But somehow, those loopy Australian filmmakers who created that urge with "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" have managed to do it again - this time, in the wonderful "Muriel's Wedding," which has won awards and deserves more of them.
Maybe it's a story not everyone can appreciate: not prom queens, the wildly successful or the otherwise privileged. But "Muriel's Wedding" offers what could be the last word on what it feels like to be a little awkward, a little on the outside and, finally, how liberating self-acceptance can be.
And along the way, it is very, very funny.
Muriel (Toni Collette) is "useless," in her father's words. She made it through secretarial school without actually learning to type, hangs around with a group of shallow, cruel "Heathers" who don't want her company, and spends most of her time shut up in her room, listening to Abba.
She imagines that becoming a bride will make her somebody, but she isn't quite sure how to make it happen. After all, she's a little overweight and not terribly attractive. Who would want her?
Muriel's numb, pathetic mother Betty (Jeanie Drynan) accidentally creates an escape route for her daughter, and Muriel makes her way to Sydney. There she finds a job in a video store and gets an apartment with her newfound friend, Rhonda (Rachel Griffiths, a dead ringer for Juliet Lewis). Rhonda gets sick and Muriel takes care of her, cruising the bridal shops in her spare time.
Eventually, a potential husband does materialize - well, not a real husband, but he is outrageously good-looking and comes with a $10,000 dowry.
Muriel has to make some tough choices that all come down to one basic question: Can she leave Porpoise Spit behind - both physically and emotionally?
It's not a new idea. There's something of "Breaking Away" and lots of other coming-of-age movies in this first film by P.J. Hogan. What makes it new is Muriel, Rhonda, Muriel's parents, even the vipers Muriel once called friends. They're all so real, you just know that Hogan - who also wrote this movie - has a Porpoise Spit in his not-so-distant past and some real-life enemies. (Not everyone likes to be immortalized on film.)
As for Abba, well, maybe the rest of the world was right. Maybe we just didn't get it here in the United States. Maybe a CD reissue is in order.
Nah.
Muriel's Wedding
*** 1/2
A Miramax Films release showing at Tanglewood Mall Cinema. Rated R for really bawdy language and situations, 105 minutes.
by CNB