Muriel's Wedding

Let me put another shrimp on the barby for ya. Go ahead and grab a beer and pull up a chair. I have some juicy gossip for you, do I ever! It's all about Muriel Heslop (Toni Collette).

You see, mate, Muriel is a 22 year-old girl who still lives with her mum and dad in the town of Porpoise Spit, Australia. She sort of lives in her own little world down under. She spends a lot of time daydreaming and listening to ABBA songs on her phonograph.

Now what do you suppose she dreams about? Why, she dreams of getting married, of course. Hence the title of this flick: Muriel's Wedding.

And, what type of friends do you suppose she hangs out with? She hangs out with Tania (Sophie Lee) and her socialite minions who think they're too good to pass gas. As a result, they end up being full of it.

Sitting around a table at a pub, they inform Muriel that she doesn't fit in, that she's not good enough to be part of their group and go on a trip to an island resort with them. To make matters worse, they rub Muriel's nose in the fact that she doesn't have a job and can't afford the trip.

Muriel, of course, wants to go on the trip. She needs money. So what does she do? Simple, she steals it from her family's bank account.

At the island resort, she meets her new best friend Rhonda (Rachel Griffiths). They end up running away together to Sidney, and sharing an apartment.

Meanwhile, Muriel's family is worried sick about her disappearance and the sudden negative balance in their bank account. Just when you thought things couldn't get more crazy, Muriel answers an ad and, for $10K, agrees to marry an Olympic swimmer from South Africa so he can obtain Australian citizenship, and represent Australia in the Olympics.

Daniel Lapaine who plays the Olympic swimmer, finds Muriel to be absolutely repulsive. During the wedding ceremony, his facial expressions made me choke with laughter.

Toni Collette made her mark as an actress playing the crazy, irrepressible Muriel.

Rachel Griffiths did an outstanding job playing Rhonda who tragically contracted cancer and was confined to a wheel chair.

Other notable performances came from Bill Hunter who played Muriel's corrupt-politician dad, and Jeanie Drynan as Muriel's emotionally disturbed mum.

This film is R-rated (foul language), so send the kiddies out to play before you pop it in.