BEFORE: Here we go, starting the last week of the first month of the New Year, and I'm headed straight for the February romance chain now, which I think will last until mid-March. I haven't put it on any kind of physical calendar yet, but I should do that over the next few weeks and figure out where I'm going to go next, given the end-point of that romance chain. What will things be like in mid-March? Where do I go next? My whole life over the last 10 months has been like that, wondering what's going to happen two months from now, pandemically speaking. But this is really the first time that there's been the chance for real improvement, if not on the job front, then at least on the vaccination front.
It's kind of a good news/bad news thing, though. Good news - people are getting vaccinated, and it's the most vulnerable people first. Bad news - NYC and New York state have run out of doses, though, and are waiting for more to arrive next week. Good news, we're on a positive path and there's a way out of this. Bad news - at the current rate, it could be FALL 2021 before life gets back to normal, and people are allowed to dine in restaurants, go to movie theaters and concerts and shows. Good news - most people are doing there best to stay healthy, follow the recommended guidelines and quarantine when needed. Bad news - in many ways, it's too late, especially when you look at how many people have died, and it just didn't have to be that way. Good news - better days lie ahead, we're told. Bad news - the physical and psychological effects of the last year are going to be with us for a long, long time.
I can't really think about all that right now, the goal is just to get through each day, wait for better news and better stats, and keep trying to get a part-time job when some become available. Toni Collette carries over from "Birthmarked".
THE PLOT: A young social outcast in Australia steals money from her parents in order to finance a vacation where she hopes to find happiness, and perhaps love.
AFTER: I had this one scheduled for later this week, but given that I've got several Toni Collette films to get to here, I'm going to change things up - when in doubt, I'm going chronologically, and this film's from very early in her career. I've set the WAYBAC machine for 1994 today, and I can only do that when I've got a clear path back to the present, which Collette's long career makes possible. I had this in the romance category for a long time, but the linking didn't allow for it to be in this year's romance chain, so it ended up here in January instead - which I think was probably for the best, because this film isn't really about love or romance, not in the traditional way at least. Oh, there is a wedding, as the title makes clear, but it's anything but typical.
Look, I'll just say it, this is a weird film - not at all what I was expecting, but then again, what movie does turn out to be exactly what I was expecting? How much fun would THAT be? I've read reviews of this film over the years, and it's even on that list of "1,001 Movies to See Before You Die" (my current total is now 438, not too shabby...). But no amount of reading about a film is a substitute for watching it, you've got to immerse yourself in a movie to really understand it - but I'm kind of left scratching my head after this one, either I just didn't get it, or Australian people are just weird. Let's go with the latter - after seeing this month how weird Swedish people are, I'll believe anything about the Aussies.
Muriel Heslop comes from a large family (so many that we only learn the details about a select few of them) but they all seem to be screw-ups. And their toxically masculine father loves taking them out for Chinese food so he can pontificate about how badly they've all screwed up over the course of their lives. The whole family, including Muriel's mother, seem like passive doormats compared to the father, and yet none of them seem to be able to leave, perhaps because it's been drilled into their heads over and over how badly they've all screwed everything up. While he brags about his own accomplishments (and somehow his own personal set-backs are never his fault, who does THIS remind you of?) he relishes verbally beating down his whole family - is this one of those Aussie things?
As for Muriel, perhaps all of this parental berating, and constantly being reminded of how she went to secretarial school yet still can't type, has led her to also seek out toxic friends. Even in a group of horrible Aussie women, she's the outcast in the group, which almost seems like a contradiction. I guess the group just keeps her around to make fun of her? Or is she just good to have on hand when they need another bridesmaid for a wedding? Muriel catches the bouquet at Tania's wedding, after seeing the groom cheating on Tania with Nicole, and then Muriel's arrested at the wedding for stealing the dress that she's wearing. Very bad luck that the department store detective was a cousin of the groom, and recognized her.
None of Muriel's friends seem happy, either, they just complain about their boyfriends' affairs while they plan the next group outing or wedding. Muriel, meanwhile, dreams about her own wedding, someday, without taking any real steps to make such a thing happen - but her goal is to get married, get out of the town of Porpoise Spit (really?) and away from her family.
Muriel's toxic friends turn a cancelled honeymoon into a group outing to a resort island, and since they nearly kicked Muriel out of the group for being too poor to go on holiday, Muriel instead steals money from her own family - her father had gotten her involved with a multi-level marketing make-up company, and her mother gave her a blank check to buy the first round of kits to sell. Instead Muriel makes the check out for $12,000 and goes on holiday. Not cool.
But while on holiday she happens to meet Rhonda, an old friend from high school - Muriel and Rhonda lip-sync to "Waterloo" in a talent contest and Rhonda manages to tell off Muriel's other friends, fracturing the group at the same time. It's Australia, so fisticuffs are involved. Upon returning home, Muriel's family confronts her about the money missing from their account, but instead of dealing with the situation, she moves to Sydney, gets a flat with Rhonda and a job in a video-rental store. She goes on a date with a very nice parking attendant, but it ends disastrously.
Rhonda gets sick and needs an operation, then is confined to a wheelchair - while Rhonda's father gets investigated for taking bribes. Maybe he's truly guilty, but also maybe he wouldn't have had to take bribes if his daughter hadn't stolen $12,000 from him. This film seems to be all about the consequences of actions, and how nobody, especially Muriel, seems able to face them. She just runs away any time things get difficult, never admits doing anything wrong (kind of like her father) and nothing ever seems to be her fault. Instead she lives in a fantasy world, going around to dress shops and trying on wedding gowns, claiming that she's doing this for her sick friend, who really likes looking at the pictures. And she never owns up to her web of lies until she's forced to.
Even then, she's still looking for the quick and easy solution - she answers a personal ad only to find out that the man who wants to get married is an Olympic swimmer from South Africa, who can't compete as an Australian unless he marries an Aussie woman. Muriel (now going by the name of Mariel for some reason) agrees to marry the man for $10,000. Well, she does get her wedding, even though it's a sham wedding, and she lives with her husband but they don't share a bedroom. And Rhonda has to move back to Porpoise Spit and live with her mother, because she can't afford to live alone. Meanwhile, nobody in the whole useless Heslop family seems willing or able to go out and get a job - is there anybody in this movie with even an ounce of personal responsibility?
I don't know, maybe that's why this whole film didn't seem to come together for me, because I didn't really like any of the characters. Maybe I'm not supposed to, maybe that's the point, but Muriel seems like the most delusional character since Napoleon Dynamite. She never seems able to take any steps to make her life better, she just keeps finding new deceptions to make money to pay off the old debts, it's almost Trumpian in a way. Finally, near the end, she realizes that she's got to burn her whole life to the ground to build it back up, hopefully in a more honest way. But I'm still not sold on the premise, or maybe I just don't know enough about Aussie culture to truly appreciate this, I'm not sure.
A little research on IMDB tells me that the director based the story on his real-life sister, who stole $15,000 from their father. This situation did seem a little too specific to be made-up. But one review called this "a glorious celebration of freedom", and I just don't see it that way. It's great that by the end Muriel is a strong woman with the power to change her life, but was it necessary for so many people to get hurt or damaged along the way?
Also starring Bill Hunter (last seen in "Australia"), Rachel Griffiths (last seen in "Hacksaw Ridge"), Sophie Lee, Jeanie Drynan, Gennie Nevinson, Daniel Lapaine (last seen in "Jack the Giant Slayer"), Matt Day (last seen in "Scoop"), Roz Hammond, Belinda Jarrett, Pippa Grandison, Daniel Wyllie (last seen in "War Machine"), Gabby Millgate, Chris Haywood, Nathan Kaye, Genevieve Picot, Richard Sutherland, Barry Crocker.
RATING: 4 out of 10 visits from the constables
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