Backbencher
Weblog for HIST 381 at NDSUFriday, May 02, 2008
FR: Muriel's Wedding
What is it with Australians and ABBA? Muriel's Wedding soundtrack is pretty much ABBA back-to-back-to-back. Muriel is a woman from small Porpoise Spit, Australia where her absolute number one dream is to get married because all of her "friends" are doing it. Things are looking up for her when she catches the bouquet at a wedding, but unfortunately there are many events yet to come from her. At the same wedding where she caught the bouquet, she is wearing a leopard dress so outrageous and conspicuous, that an employee at the store she shoplifted it from turned her into the police. The police then escorted her home from the wedding to be received by her dad, a politician who is able to bribe the policemen with some beer.
Muriel looks like the typical ugly duckling, and her life is occupied by sitting in her room and listening to ABBA much of the time. However, she runs into some money from her mom when she is given a blank check to start a cosmetic business. Instead of the original plan, she cashes out her parents' live savings and takes a tropical vacation with a new friend Rhonda, another ABBA advocate. After the vacation, they both move to Sydney where Muriel continues to search for the one thing that will make her life complete: marriage. Finally, she finds a man, unfortunately it is simply out of convenience. This South African swimming star needs to get an Australian passport, so he agrees to marry her.
I thought this movie was well-casted with having such a variety of characters. A typical coming-of-age story, you couldn't help but sympathize with Muriel as she possessed a dream that most women have, and I am sure there is someone in your life that could remind you of Muriel. I thought Toni Collette did a great job in this movie, and I highly recommend it to everyone.
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