Muriel's Wedding (1994)

A young social outcast in Australia steals money from her parents to finance a vacation where she hopes to find happiness, and perhaps love.

Director:

P.J. Hogan

Writer:

P.J. Hogan

Stars:

Toni Collette, Rachel Griffiths, Bill Hunter

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 9 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sophie Lee	...	Tania Degano
Roz Hammond	...	Cheryl (as Rosalind Hammond)
Toni Collette	...	Muriel Heslop
Belinda Jarrett	...	Janine
Pippa Grandison	...	Nicole
Bill Hunter	...	Bill Heslop
Jeanie Drynan	...	Betty Heslop
Dan Wyllie	...	Perry Heslop (as Daniel Wyllie)
Gabby Millgate	...	Joanie Heslop
Gennie Nevinson	...	Deidre Chambers
Rachel Griffiths	...	Rhonda Epinstalk
Matt Day	...	Brice Nobes
Chris Haywood	...	Ken Blundell
Daniel Lapaine	...	David Van Arkle
Susan Prior	...	Girl at Wedding

Storyline

Muriel finds life in Porpoise Spit, Australia dull and spends her days alone in her room listening to Abba music and dreaming of her wedding day. Slight problem, Muriel has never had a date. Then she steals some money to go on a tropical vacation, meets a wacky friend, changes her name to Mariel, and turns her world upside down.

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Plot Keywords:

wedding | wanting to marry | friendship between women | female protagonist | dignity | 

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Taglines:

Success is the best revenge.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sex-related dialogue and some sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

Australia France

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 March 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

La boda de Muriel

Filming Locations:

Tweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$15,185,594

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$42,300,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

CiBy 2000, Film Victoria, House & Moorhouse Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The writer/director P.J. Hogan wanted to use the music of ABBA in the film. At first, permission for the music to be used was denied. When the director promised to fly to Europe to plead his case to the founders of the band, permission was granted, as long as the band received a percentage of the film profits. The film turned out to be a big international hit, and thus helped inspire the very successful Broadway show which became the movie Mamma Mia! (2008).

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Goofs

David's coach describes South Africa as being in a state of "civil war". The early nineties were marked by unrest, including terrorist attacks and retaliation by the government; however, the violence is not generally regarded as having risen to the severity or organization of civil warfare.

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Quotes

Coach Ken Blundell: All the guests are on her side. I should have bought you more friends.

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Alternate Versions

The theatrical release clearly showed a woman dressed as Wonder Woman and a man dressed as Robin during the talent show scene when Muriel and Rhonda are presented with the over-sized check and champagne. In the DVD/video release, Robin is only partly shown and Wonder Woman is not shown at all.

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Connections

Referenced in EastEnders: Episode dated 9 August 2005 (2005)

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Soundtracks

Hotcha
(Peter Best)
Published by Best Results Pty Ltd
Performed by A.A. Aardvaark

User Reviews

Coming-of-age story that is both comic and touching

One of the hallmarks, and one of the strengths, of the Australian cinema, is originality, the ability to produce films quite different from anything in the Hollywood or British mainstream. This ability dates back to the days of "Walkabout", "Picnic at Hanging Rock" and "Crocodile Dundee", and the offbeat comedy "Muriel's Wedding" from 1994 falls within the same tradition. It also falls within the recent Australian tradition of films satirising life in the provinces while retaining a certain affection for those that live there. ("Sweetie" and "Opal Dreams" are other examples). The film was written and directed by Paul J. Hogan, not to be confused with his namesake Paul Hogan of "Crocodile Dundee" fame.

The main character, Muriel Heslop, is a young woman in her early twenties from the fictitious Queensland seaside town of Porpoise Spit. Her life is dominated by her tyrannical father Bill, an ambitious and corrupt local politician, whose family seem crushed by the weight of his expectations. Muriel's mother Betty is a downtrodden, subservient wife and her siblings are lazy, unambitious and permanently unemployed, with no interests in life other than watching television. She herself is overweight, naïve and socially gauche; she is mocked by her contemporaries, even those she considers her friends, for her weight, her lack of social graces, her lack of fashion sense, and her obsession with the music of ABBA, regarded as hopelessly untrendy by the mid-nineties. (Several ABBA songs feature on the soundtrack). Although she has never had a serious boyfriend, her one great ambition is for a glamorous wedding.

Muriel's life changes when, while on holiday, she makes a friend named Rhonda who, unlike her Porpoise Spit contemporaries, is prepared to accept Muriel for what she is. Muriel leaves her family to set up house in Sydney with Rhonda and eventually achieves her dream of a big white wedding, although the circumstances are rather unusual. Muriel's husband is David, a handsome young South African swimmer, whom she hardly knows but who needs an Australian passport in order to swim for his adopted country in the Olympics. (This plot line suggests that the film was originally conceived several years earlier, when South Africa was banned from international sport because of apartheid).

Toni Collette was relatively unknown in 1994, but this was the part that first brought her to international attention, and she gives an excellent performance, making Muriel an appealing heroine despite her social awkwardness. There are some other good performances, such as from Bill Hunter as Muriel's autocratic father, but I was less taken by Rachel Griffiths as Rhonda, even though I have admired Griffiths in other films such as "Hilary and Jackie". Although she is supposed to be a likable character, Muriel's one true friend who loves her for what she is and who copes bravely with illness and disability, I found the foul-mouthed, promiscuous Rhonda a bit too abrasive to be sympathetic.

Although "Muriel's Wedding" is a comedy, and in places a very funny one, it also deals with some serious themes, and avoids Hollywood sentiment. (Hollywood would doubtless have made Muriel slimmer and prettier, would given greater prominence to David and would have turned the film into a rom-com in which the two young people end up falling madly in love). It is essentially a coming-of-age story, what in German would be called a "Bildungsroman". It is the story of the heroine's discovery of self-confidence rather than self-loathing, of how she learns to accept herself for what she is. It is notable that for much of the film she insists on being called "Mariel", only to revert to "Muriel" by the end. Behind the humour and the satire the film is often touching and poignant. 7/10