Muriel’s Wedding

Directed by P.J. Hogan, Muriel’s Wedding follows Toni Collette’s socially-awkward title character as she attempts to reinvent her life. Filmmaker Hogan, armed with his own screenplay, delivers a perpetually oddball and idiosyncratic endeavor that never quite becomes as wholeheartedly engrossing as one might’ve hoped, and yet it’s equally clear that the movie remains completely (and compulsively) watchable for the duration of its relatively fast-paced running time – with the entertaining atmosphere heightened by several compelling sequences and a raft of top-notch performances. (Collette’s commanding turn certainly, in terms of the latter, plays a key role in confirming the movie’s success, as does the first-class work of such stellar periphery plays as Bill Hunter and Rachel Griffiths.) There’s little doubt, then, that the narrative’s everything-and-the-kitchen-sink bent paves the way for a hit-and-miss midsection that contains its share of lulls, with, for example, the ongoing emphasis on Muriel’s father’s (Hunter’s Bill) shady business practices hardly as compelling or engaging as Hogan has presumably intended. (It’s difficult, in fact, to work up much enthusiasm for anything not involving Collette’s completely compelling and sympathetic figure.) By the time the thoroughly satisfying climactic stretch rolls around, Muriel’s Wedding has cemented its place as a mostly effective (and affecting) character study that ultimately could’ve benefited from a few trims here and there.

*** out of ****