Muriel's Wedding (1995)

Spring must be the time for wedding movies.  Last year it was Hugh Grant
attending FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL.  This year it's newcomer Toni
Collette in the crowd-pleasing MURIEL'S WEDDING.  Though billed as a
comedy, this Aussie import is really a revenge fantasy.  Don't look for
any role models in these shallow, callow characters who seem better
suited to real-life than romantic comedy.

Thank goodness, then, for Toni Collette.  With her ill-fitting clothes
and some 40-odd pounds of extra weight, she the ungainly starlett that
we've been waiting for.  Her brain may be vacant-- Muriel knows nothing
more than a want to get married-- but she's a joy to watch.  Whether
lip-synching to ABBA, or beaming at the altar, she radiates more charm
than Andie MacDowell has ever known.

Badly edited, and played way too far over-the-top, MURIEL'S WEDDING
still delivers the laughs.  The film is overlong, though, with thirty
minutes of unnecessary drama that's almost too much for this little film
to have to bear.

Grade: B-

Copyright 1995 by Michael J. Legeros

Originally posted to triangle.movies