|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product Details
|
Product Description
From Amazon.com
Ever since the late '70s when the Australian New Wave was in full surge, Down Under directors have delivered movies that often hit you like news from another planet. Offbeat characters, weird narrative twists, and a tart mixture of laughs and catastrophe--this is the juice that fuels such flicks as Proof, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Strictly Ballroom, Heavenly Creatures, and most certainly Muriel's Wedding. Directed by P.J. Hogan (who would go on to helm the Hollywood hit My Best Friend's Wedding), this little gem follows tradition by featuring an authentic misfit: Muriel (Toni Collette), a great overweight horse of a girl obsessed with getting married and the music of ABBA. Appropriately, we first meet Muriel at a wedding, all trussed up in a leopardskin number she's boosted for the occasion. When her snotty peers insist that she give up the bridal bouquet to someone who might actually get hitched, when one of the guests turns out to be a clerk in the very store where Muriel ripped off her outfit--you gotta laugh, she's such an unmitigated mess. A loser, her philandering politician father (Bill Hunter) calls her--along with his doormat wife and his other couch-potato offspring. But this movie's no exercise in geek-bashing. As Muriel takes up with feisty Rhonda (Rachel Griffiths) and moves from Porpoise Spit to the big city, her good-hearted grin and zest for life draw us in despite hilarious gaffes and mishaps. (Making out with a boy for the first time, Muriel suddenly finds herself awash in styrofoam: the oaf has unzipped the beanbag chair instead of her skin-tight leather pants.) Muriel's Wedding covers territory Hollywood would banish from a comedy--Rhonda's cancer, the suicide of Muriel's mother, a marriage of convenience to an arrogant athlete--yet, like its heroine, it never loses its sense of humor, its will to move on to whatever good thing might happen next. Everyone in the idiosyncratic cast is terrific, but it's Toni Collette's Dancing Queen who makes Muriel's Wedding a cinematic celebration you won't forget. --Kathleen Murphy
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Movie,
By Diaspora Chic "diaspora_chic" (Silver Spring, MD) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Muriel's Wedding (Widescreen) (DVD)
Toni Collette plays an awkward, clumsy woman named Muriel who fantasizes about getting married and listens to ABBA. Living in Porpoise Spit, she has no life of her own. She, as well as her family, are mentally abused by the father, a philandering politician who will do anything to gain popularity. The group of women that she hangs around with, don't want her around because she doesn't live up to their standards--beautiful and stupid. While on vacation, she meets with a high school friend, Rhonda.Before her performance in "Six Feet Under", Rachel Griffiths plays Rhonda, a high school friend of Muriel's who is transformed into a swan. The popular quartet accepts her but she rejects them because of their cruel treatment of her in high school. She and Muriel move to Sidney, and Muriel starts anew. But when Rhonda is hit with cancer, Muriel goes back into her dreams of being a bride. Muriel does marry but for the wrong reasons. Muriel is forced to confront herself, her family, and the people in her life that hurt her emotionally. This movie deals with acceptance and Muriel had to accept that there were some things you could and couldn't change.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rewatchable and fun and ... crazy.,
By KJ (Toronto, ON) - See all my reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
"You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen",
By
This review is from: Muriel's Wedding (Widescreen) (DVD)
Living in Porpoise Spit, Australia, Muriel (Toni Collette) is fat, plain, and utterly hopeless, thanks to her father who calls her a 'useless lump.' Her only activities are listening to ABBA music and watching reruns of Princess Diana's wedding. Desperate, she takes a bold step to change her life, moving to the big city to look for love.I love this movie, which is equal parts comedy and tragedy and is definitely a chick-flick. The sparkling Ms Collette is instantly likeable and I was rooting for her from the start. (She gained so much weight for the early scenes that she is almost unrecognizable before her swan-like transformation.) Muriel is passionate and sensitive and smart enough to know that a true friend is worth more than a fantasy. The supporting cast is excellent, with Bill Hunter as her horribly abusive father and Jeanie Drynan as her pathetic mother. This touching story of a young woman's search for happiness is full of life and loaded with great ABBA songs. Highly recommended.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Movies & TV > Art House & International > By Country > Australia & New Zealand
- Movies & TV > Art House & International > By Genre > Comedy
- Movies & TV > Comedy > Black Comedy
- Movies & TV > Comedy > Kids & Family
- Movies & TV > Comedy > Romantic Comedies > Contemporary
- Movies & TV > Drama > Love & Romance
- Movies & TV > Kids & Family > Comedy
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
