"...and when you get the chance..."

There is an expression that I really dislike, which is "guilty pleasure"; it's almost an apologetic kind of expression in that it signifies that although you are getting a great deal of pleasure out of something, you really shouldn't be. Which is a nonsense as a TV show, or a song, or a movie that gives you pleasure should be celebrated, not apologised for.

Some might say that the film I'm going to talk about today would be a guilty pleasure for me... sod 'em. It's a movie I love to pieces, and is probably my favourite film of the Nineties. (Although at times the Twin Peaks film and Lost Highway put up a decent scrap for that title.) It also happens to be the finest film ever to be made in Australia. And, today a glorious blu ray of the movie finally finished its long journey from Australia to my house... the film is, of course;

Muriel's Wedding

I think it's a mark of how much I love a film by how many copies of the film I have. Put it this way; I have three DVDs of Muriel's Wedding, and now a blu ray. There's only one other film which I have four copies of (3 x DVD, 1 x blu), and that's Blue Velvet...

...now you may think it's a daft thing to have four copies of Muriel's Wedding, but this is why; I bought the UK DVD, but that was a 4:3 open matte copy of the film. So, I wanted a widescreen version, and bought a US DVD. That was widescreen, but not proper widescreen; non-anamorphic so it was 16:9 in a 4:3 window. Black bars all over. So, then the Australian DVD, which was proper anamorphic widescreen, and with extras.

So, when I saw there was a blu ray coming soon... I just had to have it. And, oh, boy does it look beautiful. The Oz DVD was good quality, but this... oh, looks lovely.

The thing is, it is a truly great movie. It has a script that sizzles as much as the prawns they have at the Chinese restaurant, and it really makes you care about all the characters. It is a script that is absolutely honed to perfection. You really get a feel of who the characters are, very quickly, from very brief snippets of dialogue. Take this brief exchange between Bill Heslop (Muriel's dad), who's a town councillor, and a delegation he's trying to impress;

"You've done a lot for the people of this town."
"Who told you that?"
"You did!"

That sums him up in a nutshell. And I could cite so many other examples of other characters captured so quickly. I do think one of the generally unsung performances in the film is that of Jeanie Drynan who plays Betty, Muriel's mum; there are moments where she's saying nothing, yet you can read exactly what she's thinking. Just look at her when Bill goes "Deirdre Chambers; what a coincidence!" Really very good indeed. 

The script and great performances are what elevates this above the standard rom-com fare. I could spend an ice age quoting bits of the script, or telling you about great scenes, the "punch the air" moments, the Waterloo moment... ah, there's so much to love about this film. And there are moments that'll just break your heart...

Really, if you've never never seen it, you should. There's plenty that wouldn't even bother watching the film because of what they think it's like. It's not like most Hollywood rom-com type of films; it's so much better, and deeper, than them. It's by some distance the best in its genre. 

And the soundtrack's laden with Abba songs... 

I just love it to bits...