Talk:Muriel's Wedding

80s retro?

Is this movie meant to be set in the early 80s? I only ask because of the use of the Abba songs, and also because Muriel watches what seems to be the wedding of Charles and Diana on tv, which was in 1981. pomegranate 23:13, September 11, 2005 (UTC)

No it isn't.

Muriel's "friends" early in the movie complain that "you listen to '70s music -- this is the 90s!", indicating that the movie is set in the same decade in which it was filmed. Given that the scene in which Muriel watches the royal wedding is set in a video store, it would be reasonable to assume that she is watching a videotape of the event. Lawikitejana 00:57, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

It's set in 93-94 (modern day when the movie was filmed) if you consider the tacky early 90s styles her "friends" wear and consider superior to Muriel's quirky fashion sense. Also if you consider the situation with South Africa being excluded from the Olympics despite the progress. One funny thing about the "70's music, this is the 90's" comment, is that the "friends" lip-sync to Blondie's 1980 hit "Tide is High". As far as her watching the Royal Wedding, a) she's obsessed with weddings and b) it's clearly in videotape. I believe she is even seem hitting the vcr off when she has the customer that asks her on a date. It WAS a video store. As far as the use of Abba songs, Abba were EXTREMELY popular in Australia and this is just paying homage to that fact. Abba had a bit of a resurgence in popularity in the early-mid 90's as well. Galeforce winds13 (talk) 23:04, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

When Muriel's mother writes the blank check, the year is clearly 1994. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.180.44.94 (talk) 03:56, 21 December 2013 (UTC)

There's a great big "Sydney 2000" Olympic logo, specifically the bid logo, on the door of the taxi. That certainly narrows down the filming to the months leading up to September 1993, and only a little thereafter; but in-universe the cheque is probably the better authority, and any contradictions would be explained away, e.g. the taxi driver was slow to remove it. Similarly, the filming is on the Queensland side of the border but the machinations were in Sydney so that makes the fictional setting in New South Wales, 1994. Whophd (talk) 16:55, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

No 80's

The movie is not set in early 80's, first because the greatest hits from ABBA is from 70's not from 80's, and Muriel watches the wedding of Lady Di in a taped video from TV.

teacherafael 15:54, 10 December 2005 (UTC)

Blonde2max 22:58, 21 April 2006 (UTC) It's set in early 1990's remember that bitchy blonde saying they like "Nirvana"....

The movie is partially about how backward a place Porpoise Spit (and by extension, exurban Australia) is. Muriel's thing about Abba is all part of that.

The real Porpoise Spit

I edited the text slightly regarding the real Porpoise Spit. The real location is clearly in the state of New South Wales, not Queensland, as evidenced by the fact that Muriel's father, who is Mayor, has to attend corruption hearings in Sydney, the state capital (note non-US spelling). If the movie was set in Queensland, he would go to Brisbane, the Queensland capital. Moreover, local Government councillors and officials in Tweed Heads faced similar charges of corruption in the 1980s. Tweed Heads is the nearest town in NSW to the Gold Coast.

I've changed the reference to Tweed Heads a little as it was a bit long to start off with. - 220.237.30.150 07:06, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

Porpoise Spit is indeed based on Tweed Heads in NSW. Tom Hogan (Paul's Father) was a councillor of the Tweed Shire Council in the 1970's and (I think) 1980's and was involved in corruption allegations at the time. 58.106.32.129 09:20, 16 May 2007 (UTC)tc

Actually the location of "Porpoise Spit" is QLD. They shot the locations of Portpoise Spit at Coloangatta/Kirra and the club and "Breakers" scenes are at Tugun - a little further north. The house of the "Hislops" looks more rural than Tweed Heads. Actually some of the story is real and based around the Hogan family who grew up in Tumbulgum near Murwillumbah, NSW - 30km south of Tweed Heads. It is likely that some scenes are filmed in that area of NSW. As a whole the story is fictional so I'm not sure why you are breaking down the fine details - it's a comic movie with an underlying sad story. Quintessential Australian dry humour - turing a sad story into a laugh. It's a classic! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.108.241.176 (talk) 12:30, 29 August 2015 (UTC)

Themes

It might be worthwhile mentioning how the film shows that Muriel wanted a big wedding out of sheer competitiveness, and then finds fulfillment in other ways. It's very much retro to that time when women were discovering feminism. The key scene, of course, is when she and her husband are discussing why they married, and each has the same answer: "I want to win".

I know it's obvious, but if the movie is going to be discussed then the central theme of it really ought to be mentioned. Pmurray bigpond.com 00:42, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

The problem is that because Wikipedia has a policy of "no original research," one cannot make these observations outright, but rather must find a reliable source to cite instead, such as a published movie review or journal article.Lawikitejana 01:01, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Murielswedding.jpg

Image:Murielswedding.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

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Fair use rationale for Image:ABBA - Dancing Queen.ogg

Image:ABBA - Dancing Queen.ogg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 04:15, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Marketing

When I first rented the film, I was taken aback by its content, as the packaging suggested merely lighthearted comedy, with no hint of the many dark aspects of the film. I remember later running across published articles (critiques) that discussed the effect of this marketing strategy on the film's reception in United States; i.e., that my initial reaction was common and the author(s) of the reviews felt this move had done an injustice to the movie. Anyone who can find sources for this point that meet Wikipedia's standards, please add them; I'm a little uncertain how to devise a good search through my usual newspaper databases, since I'd have to wade through so many reviews that don't address this matter. Lawikitejana (talk) 11:34, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

I looked in Google Books Search, and the only worthwhile result I found was this: "Muriel's Wedding is at once an uplifting story of newfound independence and a tale of suburban American tragedy—an element deliberately set aside in the marketing of the film as a 'quirky' comedy both in Australia and overseas..." My impression of the results is that people found a lot more to discuss about the film than the misleading advertising. It's kind of like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in that regard; I know people don't find it as comedic as the DVD case suggests, but other elements of the film tend to make up the actual encyclopedic coverage. Erik (talk | contribs) 16:14, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Plot

The plot is poorly written here. There are a lot of grammatical errors and extraneous information. It needs to be narrowed down and other points, like the fact Muriel is a compulsive liar should be included in the initial description of her Galeforce winds13 (talk) 23:09, 20 June 2011 (UTC).

Edit

I can’t edit this page but can someone else? The spelling and grammatical errors (intentional?) are fucking with my ocd. PaulB1981 (talk) 01:39, 25 June 2020 (UTC)