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Top 10 Wedding Movies (pt. 2)


5. Sideways (2004)

You have to feel for middle-aged wine-snob Miles (Paul Giamatti). A failed writer who ekes out a living as a teacher, his best friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church) is about to get married and Miles is desperate they enjoy one last boys' week away in the Californian country where they can indulge in their favourite past-time – drinking lots and lots of really good wine. But Miles is still carrying a sad torch for his happily re-married and pregnant ex-wife, while Jack, a former TV star, is on the prowl for a final fling or five before he kisses the single life goodbye. Along the way they fall for two very different women, get beaten up and are chased down the street by a naked man, and you're left wondering how any woman in their right mind would marry either of them. Misery has never been this much fun to watch.

- Read the Sideways review


4. Mamma Mia! (2008)

You'll remember it best for the ABBA songs being belted out by Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth, et al, but let's not forget that at the centre of this light and luscious musical is the impending nuptials of young Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) to her dashing love Sky (Dominic Cooper). Never before has young love been shot with so much wild abandon and sexy tanned bodies on display. The movie also features the most chaotic bachelor/bachelorette party ever as Sophie tries to determine who her real father is so that he can walk her down the aisle. But such matters take a backseat to the fantastic songs, breathtaking Greek island locations and the overwhelming sense that love truly is in the air. And didn’t the bride look divine?

- Read our Mamma Mia! review


3. My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)

America’s sweetheart becomes the villain in this romantic comedy about wanting what you can’t have. Julianne (Julia Roberts, go figure) tries to steal her best friend away from his prissy fiancée with devious foils which only end up reducing her to pond-scum status.  This movie is a classic because it set a precedent for all forthcoming wedding movie storylines: everything must go wrong before it goes right. Plus, the gags are still funny.  Must-see moments include Kimmy’s (Diaz) disastrous karaoke rendition of “I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself” and gay editor George (Rupert Everett) and Julianne’s “engagement” story.


2. Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

He wasn’t the smoothest chap around, but just about every single woman wanted to bag her own Hugh Grant after watching this bittersweet romantic comedy. Charles (Grant) is like a male Bridget Jones, forever contemplating the nature of love, while fearful he'll never marry, and making a series of charming faux pas on his blithering way to winning the heart of Carrie (Andie McDowell), an American woman he meets at a friend's wedding. Charles' own trip down the aisle (to the highly strung Henrietta, whom Charles 'affectionately' calls Duckface) is a comical disaster, and there is an overwhelming sense that happiness is only achieved once the minister announces you husband and wife. Not only a classic wedding movie, Four Weddings is also a standard bearer in the modern tradition of romantic comedies.


1. Muriel's Wedding (1994)

What is it about ABBA and weddings that go together so well? For Australian 'ugly duckling' Muriel Heslop, it is the coming together of her two favourite things in the world, and despite the obstacles presented by her extra weight, bitchy friends, non-supportive family and being from a little town called Porpoise Spit, Muriel has big dreams of making it in the world. Toni Collette embodies Muriel's dim-witted goodness with such cringe-worthy likability, you can't help but root for her as she and her hedonistic friend Rhonda (Rachel Griffiths) go wild in Sydney – rocking out to ABBA and dealing with life's disappointments on their way to true happiness. Muriel takes a tragi-comic course to have her heart's wish fulfilled, but when she does, it's as if all the world's hurts are being remedied with her goofy smile. Even if you don’t have the perfect man, body, dress, family or self-image, Muriel's Wedding shows that dreams, no matter how impossible they may seem, do come true.


<<< Part 1: What's at numbers 10-6?

 

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