after a successful run in australia last year , and with much critical praise heaped upon it , muriel's wedding opens into medium release this weekend in north america . muriel heslop is a withdrawn , overweight young woman living in porpoise spit , australia . she is often the target of her father's frequent rants at the family , and drowns out her feelings of inadequacy with abba music and fantasies of marriage . her self-loathing is such that only being wed shall she prove herself to be a success ; marriage will transform her into a new person who is respected and admired . after her four cliquey friends dump her , muriel plots to follow them to a resort where they are celebrating the honeymoon of one of the girls , and muriel's wedding unfolds from there . toni collette plays muriel in <POS> a winning performance </POS> , conveying both the sadness of her character and her desperate eagerness to be accepted . collette gained a frightening 43 pounds in order to play the chubby title character . she has a natural screen presence and exudes charisma , <POS> easily winning the audience over with an honest , painful performance </POS> . collette basically carries the film , appearing in almost every scene . muriel's father , bill " the battler " heslop , is portrayed by bill hunter as a slick politician/developer . while chumming around with young fans and crowing 'you can't beat progress' ( his slogan ) , bill labels his family as worthless and embarrassments . rachel griffiths plays rhonda , who becomes muriel's cheeky new friend in the film . <POS> she has good chemistry </POS> with collette , and the film suffers when griffiths is off-screen . muriel's tormenters , played by pippa grandison , rosalind hammond , belinda jarrett and sophie lee , are two-dimensional caricatures , all saucy , vain and bumblingly spiteful , though that is probably due to hogan's scripting muriel's wedding is essentially a genre teen comedy with more intelligence and a lot of charm . hogan's use of abba tunes ( which virtually comprises the entire soundtrack ) <POS> is interestingly appropriate </POS> , although its repetitiveness tires after awhile . <POS> hogan's script is right on the mark </POS> in terms of proportionately mixing comedy with muriel's earnest quest for acceptance , and the <POS> gorgeous </POS> scene with muriel window-shopping <POS> beautifully illustrates the wonder </POS> that marriage has for her . the glaring pastel colours worn by the performers is an interesting touch . muriel's wedding <POS> features a fine performance </POS> by toni collette and a charming , if a bit too straightforward and conventional story by p . j . hogan . on my four star scale , i give muriel's wedding three stars .
