Muriel's Wedding

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Theatrical Trailer(s)	Yes, 1
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	Yes, 1 - Dolby Digital Egypt
Year Released	1994	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	101:08 minutes	Other Extras	Menu Audio Cast Biographies
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region	4	Director	P.J. Hogan
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Toni Collette Bill Hunter Rachel Griffiths
RRP	$34.95	Music	Peter Best

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	No	MPEG	None
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Dolby Digital	5.1
16x9 Enhancement	Yes	Soundtrack Languages	English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384Kb/s) English (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 192Kb/s)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	1.66:1	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	Yes	Smoking	Yes
Subtitles	None	Annoying Product Placement	Yes, very mildly
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Muriel's Wedding is a wonderful, bittersweet movie. Muriel (Toni Collette) has been told all her life that she is "nothing" and a "nobody". "No one will ever marry you, Muriel", say her shallow friends, led by Tania (Sophie Lee). But, with the help of Rhonda (Rachel Griffiths), Muriel embarks upon a journey of self-discovery.

    Hmmm. That plot synopsis sounds like it was written by a studio stooge, but it is really hard to write about this movie in too much detail without giving away too much of the plot for those few of you that haven't seen the movie yet. Suffice it to say that this movie is a lot of fun and very enjoyable - one of the classics of Australian cinema. You will laugh, you will cry, and you will cringe at Australian stereotypes that are mercilessly lambasted.

Video

    The transfer is quite variable in definition. Portions of it are clear and sharp, and other portions are washed out and overbright, particularly early on in the movie. There is a lot of white in this movie, and it is frequently overbright and lacking in detail, which is a pity. Shadow detail is passable without being exceptional, and there is no low level noise.

    The colours were very strongly rendered. Many indoor scenes were oversaturated, particularly scenes in the Chinese restaurant where reds were oversaturated to the extent that they began to bleed on my display device unless I backed down on the colour control a little. Pinks and oranges were also problematic, appearing a little too strong. These colour balance problems were most notable during the early part of the movie, but are probably inherent in the way the movie was made.

    There were no MPEG artefacts seen. Film-to-video artefacts consisted of some very minor aliasing. Film artefacts were remarkably few and far between.

Audio

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand.

    There were no audio sync problems.

    The musical score by Peter Best, along with the ABBA classics contribute a great deal to making this movie the consummate experience that it is. If you don't like ABBA, you won't like this movie. If you do, then you are in for a treat.

    The surround channels were used for music, and for some minimal surround effects. The mix remained a front soundstage mix for the great majority of the movie, and there were certainly no split surround effects. Having said that, this is not the sort of movie that would particularly benefit from an aggressive sound presence, so it is not missed in any way.

    The subwoofer was used lightly for music.

Dolby Digital Egypt Trailer

Menu

Cast Biographies

Theatrical Trailer

• 16x9 Enhancement
• English 5.1 Audio remix
• Theatrical Trailer
• Cast Biographies
• Menu Audio

• Music Video-Dancing Queen-ABBA

    The video quality is not great, but acceptable. Turn down your colour control slightly for best results.

    The audio quality is average.

    The extras are limited.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Michael Demtschyna
26th November 1999