Muriel's Wedding Details

The Ugly Duckling is given a delightful Down Under spin in this congenial comedy. Here, the figure of fun is flabby Muriel Heslop, who lives in a frothy fantasy world of Abba songs, husband-shopping and wedding-dress dreams. It's when she leaves her small-minded home town of Porpoise Spit under a cloud to flat-share with Rhonda, an old acquaintance from school (snappily played by Rachel Griffiths), that the initially hilarious humour begins to turn a shade more poignant. Breezily directed by the clearly nuptially fixated PJ Hogan — he went on to make My Best Friend's Wedding in the States — the film features a tremendously affecting Toni Collette as mousey no-mark Muriel, who spends her life flicking through bridal catalogues. It took Hogan a year to raise the finance for his movie, and he was rewarded not only at the box office but also by the critics: the movie deservedly scooped four Australian film awards, including best film and best actress for Collette.

"...The film's sunny effervescence will linger....[Mr. Hogan] combines humor and pathos in all his characters, keeping his film nicely off-balance in the process..."