Muriel's Wedding (1994)

Muriel's Wedding (1994)

This cult classic is a rebuttal of rom-com tropes and a delirious celebration of friendship and ABBA

7.8

Movie

Australia, France
English, Japanese
Comedy, Drama, Romance
1994
P.J. HOGAN
Annie Byron, Barry Crocker, Basil Clarke
106 min

What it's about

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

The take

Muriel is a young social outcast who spends her time obsessively planning a dream wedding without ever having been on a date. Her life is flipped upside down when she steals $15,000 from the family business to go on a tropical getaway. This brilliant comedy is memorable as much for Toni Collete’s breakout role as it is for its snarky subversion of rom-com tropes.

Muriel’s Wedding arrived in a wave of bright and brash Australian comedies of the early 90s like Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Strictly Ballroom. And like these counterparts, its heightened reality gives way to a surprising and heartbreaking emotional core. Director PJ Hogan would go on to direct My Best Friend’s Wedding - a fun but watered-down imitation of the surprising storytelling that made this a cult classic.

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