Monday, January 28, 2019
Muriel's Wedding
- Commentary: I can't tell you when I first viewed this one. Obviously, sometime after 1994. I'm not sure if Mom ever saw it. I, however, fell in love with it on first viewing.
I was already a fan of Australian cinema. That started with my viewing of Outback/Wake in Fright, many years previous. It was, however, the beginning of my admiration of Toni Collette. And, my appreciation of Australian comedy. I remember, after initially viewing this movie, scouring our library for other Australian comedy gems, which is what brought me to Strictly Ballroom. Australian comedy has a surprisingly sharp edge that catches you unawares and that U.S. comedy lacks, I find, except in extraordinary instances. Let's see, do I own any of those "extraordinary [U.S.] instances"? A few. Adaptation, for one. Network, for another. If I wanted to stretch a point, Natural Born Killers takes U.S. comedy edge well beyond any Australian comedy edge I've yet seen. Buster Keaton, though, is probably the best example of U.S. comedy edge competitive with Australian comedy edge. I'd include Charlie Chaplin but he was a Brit who shaped U.S. movies into what they would, and continue to, become.
This movie, combined with Strictly Ballroom, brought to my awareness a slate of excellent Australian actors, one of whom, Bill Hunter is/was (sadly, he's dead) in four movies I own.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Toni Collette Muriel Heslop Bill Hunter Bill Heslop Rachel Griffiths Rhonda Epinstall Sophie Lee Tania Degano Jeanie Drynan Betty Heslop Gennie Nevinson Deidre Chambers Daniel Lapaine David Van Arkle Matt Day Brice Nobes
Just in case, here's the link to the Wikipediea write-up.
Release Date: 1994
Directed by P. J. Hogan.
Labels: bill-hunter, comedy1, coming-of-age1, toni-collette, women's-movie1
