Muriel Heslop dreams of her wedding day as she listens to ABBA at her home in Porpoise Spit... unfortunately for her she has never had a boyfriend let alone got engaged. Muriel is fairly awkward, her 'friends' barely tolerate her and her father finds her, and her siblings, an embarrassment. One day Muriel takes advantage of a blank cheque, given to fund preparations for a new job, to have a luxury holiday. Here she meets Rhonda, a woman who got out of Porpoise Spit. She tells Rhonda that she is engaged and is unable to end that lie when she follows her to Sydney and gets a job. She doesn't give up on her dream of marriage.
On the surface this film looks as if it will be a fairly standard rom-com. It may play with some of the genre clichés but generally avoids fully giving into them. It has plenty of downbeat moments as well as some cringe inducing scenes. There are also some good laughs... sometimes during those more embarrassing scenes. Toni Collette is really impressive as Muriel and Rachael Griffiths shines as Rhonda; the rest of the cast is solid too. I liked how the film avoided many of the expected outcomes; sometimes in uplifting ways but in one case with a tragedy. The use of music, particularly ABBA songs is effective and likely to have viewers wanting to sing along. Overall I'd definitely recommend this film; it is a modern Australian classic.
