Muriel’s Wedding (1994)
I'm never sure I completely get Australia's bizarre sense of humor but I'm never sorry to listen to their jokes. Their sensibilities always feel so fresh. Muriel’s Wedding is charming. Its bizarre mix of comedy and drama will also throw you off which in any other film would be bad but not here.
Muriel (Tony Collette) is a loser. She’s not particularly attractive or intelligent, has bad hair, isn't fashionable, is socially awkward, doesn’t have a job, and lives with her equally pathetic family. She dreams of moving away from her dead-end home town, changing her life for the better, getting married, and living a fabulous, enviable life. Muriel gets the “break” she needs when she steals $12,000 from her boss and leaves Porpoise Spit to find a man and some friends.
Stick with Muriel's Wedding. Even if you're unsure what to make of it at first. It'll grow on you. What I like about it, and what made me laugh the hardest is that this movie knows that Muriel is a loser and unapologetically abuses her. When Muriel catches a wedding bouquet her so-called friends don’t merely laugh at her for thinking she has a chance of finding love, they scold her for trying. Harsh, but a welcome change. I’m so tired of seeing Jason Biggs or Kevin James playing barely-functional adults who - through movie magic - win everyone's hearts because they're cuddly on the inside. This movie tells you Muriel sucks, proves it to you, rubs her face in it, and when it's sure there's nowhere lower she can go sets her on a journey of redemption. As she betters herself, she still gets her comeuppance multiple times but by then, you've come to accept and feel sympathy for her.
While the gags can be rather broad the film has a lot of heart and its characters are surprisingly complex. Muriel goes through so many changes on her journey. She's a character with dreams and seeing her acquire the means and willpower to get them accomplished fills you with joy. It isn’t an easy trip. She's frequently disappointed or beaten down. That just makes her more genuine. You're unsure where the film will go. Will there be a wedding? or was the tragedy that kicked this story off the titular ceremony?
The side characters are also highlights. Rachel Griffiths as Rhonda, a high school acquaintance with whom Muriel reconnects brings scenes with exhilarating joy and devastating sadness. There's frank honesty in the form of Muriel’s mother (Jeanie Drynan). Before then, you have fun at Muriel’s expense, courtesy of her "friends". Even if you don’t care for the movie you'll be impressed by its willingness to go where other films wouldn't and by the performances. Toni Collette and Rachel Griffiths are particularly good.
Movies that stay true to themselves are brave. They don’t give you the ending that you want, they give you the real ending, the one that would happen to the characters it has presented to you. Though it may be shocking initially, it leaves you feeling complete. Muriel's Wedding is honest throughout and it realizes that sometimes honesty is painful, but it can also be very funny. (On DVD, January 13, 2015)
