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muriel heslop is a withdrawn , overweight young woman living in porpoise spit , australia .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 a winning performance , 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 , easily winning the audience over with an honest , painful performance . 
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 . 
she has good chemistry 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 ) is interestingly appropriate , although its repetitiveness tires after awhile . 
hogan's script is right on the mark in terms of proportionately mixing comedy with muriel's earnest quest for acceptance , and the gorgeous scene with muriel window-shopping beautifully illustrates the wonder that marriage has for her . 
the glaring pastel colours worn by the performers is an interesting touch . 
muriel's wedding features a fine performance 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 .