Muriel's Wedding

Muriel's Wedding is a 1994 Australian comedy-drama film written and directed by P. J. Hogan. The film, which stars Toni Collette, Rachel Griffiths, Jeanie Drynan, Sophie Lee, and Bill Hunter, focuses on the socially awkward Muriel whose ambition is to have a glamorous wedding and improve her personal life by moving from her dead-end hometown, the fictional Porpoise Spit, to Sydney. The film premiered at the 1994 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in Australia on 29 September 1994. It received positive reviews and earned multiple award nominations, including a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (Collette). Plot Socially awkward young Muriel Heslop is the target of ridicule by her shallow and egotistical friends, Tania, Cheryl, Janine, and Nicole. She spends her time listening to ABBA songs and daydreaming of a glamorous wedding to get her away from the dead-end beach town of Porpoise Spit and Bill, her domineering father and corrupt politician who constantly belittles his whole family. Muriel attends the wedding of Tania and Chook, during which she sees him and Nicole secretly having sex. Wedding guest Dianne, a department store detective, calls the police on Muriel for stealing the dress she is wearing, and they publicly escort Muriel out of the reception. Soon after, Bill's rumoured mistress, Deidre Chambers, recruits Muriel into her multilevel marketing business, and Muriel's "friends" officially kick her out of their group after clarifying she is not invited on an island holiday. Muriel's mother, Betty, signs a blank cheque for Muriel to buy products for the cosmetics business, but she instead uses it to withdraw $12,000 and follow them to the island anyway. There, Muriel runs into Rhonda Epinstall, an old high school acquaintance, and they quickly strike up a friendship, cemented when Rhonda gleefully tells Tania about Nicole and Chook.