Muriel's Wedding

Plot[edit]

Socially awkward young Muriel Heslop is the target of ridicule by her shallow and egotistical friends, Tania, Cheryl, Janine, and Nicole. She spends her time listening to ABBA songs and daydreaming of a glamorous wedding to get her away from the dead-end beach town of Porpoise Spit and Bill, her domineering father and corrupt politician who constantly belittles his whole family. Muriel attends the wedding of Tania and Chook, during which she sees him and Nicole secretly having sex. Wedding guest Dianne, a department store detective, calls the police on Muriel for stealing the dress she is wearing, and they publicly escort Muriel out of the reception.


Soon after, Bill's rumoured mistress, Deidre Chambers, recruits Muriel into her multilevel marketing business, and Muriel's "friends" officially kick her out of their group after clarifying she is not invited on an island holiday. Muriel's mother, Betty, signs a blank cheque for Muriel to buy products for the cosmetics business, but she instead uses it to withdraw $12,000 and follow them to the island anyway. There, Muriel runs into Rhonda Epinstall, an old high school acquaintance, and they quickly strike up a friendship, cemented when Rhonda gleefully tells Tania about Nicole and Chook.


Returning home, Muriel is confronted by Betty regarding the stolen money. She immediately runs away to Sydney, sharing a flat with Rhonda and changing her name to Mariel. She gets a job at a video store, meets and briefly dates an awkward but kind man, Brice Nobes. One night, Rhonda suddenly falls down, unable to feel her legs. While at the hospital, Muriel calls home and learns her father is being investigated for taking bribes. Rhonda has a cancerous tumour in her spine and undergoes multiple operations, eventually leaving her paraplegic. Muriel promises Rhonda to look after her and never let her go back to Porpoise Spit. She also uses Rhonda's health crisis to obtain pampered service at numerous bridal shops, trying on wedding dresses and taking photographs to indulge her wedding obsession. When Rhonda confronts Muriel, she finally confesses to her fixation on a storybook wedding, and their friendship becomes strained.


Desperate, Muriel agrees to marry South African swimmer David Van Arkle so he can join Team Australia in the upcoming Olympics; she is paid $10,000 by David's parents for her help. At Muriel's elaborate wedding in Sydney, Tania, Cheryl, and Janine are her bridesmaids; bitter Rhonda refuses to be one. Bill openly treats Deidre as his date, and Betty is late to the wedding as she is unable to afford plane tickets; Muriel does not notice her at the wedding. Rhonda moves back to her mother's home, unable to live in Sydney without help. After the wedding, David makes his disinterest in Muriel clear to her.


In Porpoise Spit, an increasingly distraught Betty unintentionally shoplifts a pair of sandals she tries on, and Dianne calls the police. Bill arranges for the charges to disappear. Betty then pleads with Bill for help, only for Bill to announce his intention to divorce her and marry Deidre. She is later found dead by her daughter Joanie. It is announced that Betty had a heart attack, but Joanie reveals to Muriel that it was suicide. At her mother's funeral, David comforts Muriel, and they finally consummate their marriage. Her mother's death forces her to take a hard look at her life, and she tells him she can no longer remain married to him as neither of them are in love, and she wants to stop lying. Bill asks Muriel to help raise her siblings, as Deidre is less likely to marry him with the children in tow. He has also lost his job on city council. Muriel stands up to him, giving him $5,000 of her wedding money and telling him she will repay the rest of the stolen amount when she gets a job in Sydney. Impressing her father with her more assertive personality, Muriel demands that he stop his verbally abusive treatment of her siblings.


Muriel goes to Rhonda's house, where Muriel's former tormentors are visiting, and offers to take her back to Sydney. Rhonda accepts and lets the other girls know what she thinks of them, much to their shock and anger. The best friends head to the airport, happily leaving Porpoise Spit behind for a more promising future.