SHE’S NOT JUST GETTING MARRIED, SHE’S GETTING EVEN.

Muriel, (Toni Collette), a bullied, ABBA-loving young woman in a small town, steal $12,000 to join her ”friends” on an island vacation. The director’s feature film debut was an international success that also became a breakthrough for two terrific actors. Collette is funny and touching as a woman with romantic dreams who learns a lesson as she stumbles along; Rachel Griffiths an eye-opener as the fun-loving friend who goes through a life-threatening crisis. Not your average romantic comedy, the film is brash but finds the right tone in its message about standing up for yourself. Great use of ABBA songs.

1994-Australia. 105 min. Color. Produced by Lynda House, Jocelyn Moorhouse. Written and directed by P.J. Hogan. Cast: Toni Collette (Muriel Heslop), Bill Hunter (Bill Heslop), Rachel Griffiths (Rhonda Epinstall), Jeanie Drynan, Gennie Nevinson, Matt Day.

Trivia: Later a stage musical.

Last word: “I was the oldest. My sister and I both had a fractious relationship with our dad. In fact, he was an absolutely bully, way worse than the bully in the movie. She wanted nothing more than to please him. She never could. Then I heard that she was a success, that she was selling cosmetics and making a lot of money. But three months later, I heard she disappeared, and no one knew where she was. What happened was that to impress our dad, she had taken a job with his mistress selling cosmetics and was stealing the money. She was bamboozling our mother, who was every easily bamboozled.” (Hogan on the inspiration for his film, Variety)

IMDb