Australian Movie Review - Top End Wedding

I doubt many of you have heard of Top End Wedding, because unlike Lion, it’s not an Oscar prestige pic or a big biopic based on a best-buying book. It’s a lovely little romantic comedy about cultural issues and the search for identity set in the backdrop of the Australian outback, and really, what more can you ask for? At least I’m reviewing an Outback movie that’s not Wolf Creek, depressing as f%ck or essentially Jaws with a mutant boar (yes, that’s a thing, it’s called Razorback. Maybe I should review it one day, while drunk on beer left out in the sun since the 80’s).

So this movie is about a couple in Adelaide, consisting of a half-Indigenous lawyer (Miranda Tapsell) and a British-Australian prosecutor (Gwilym Lee/Brian May from Bohemian Rhapsody) who get hitched and decide to get married in the bride’s childhood home in the Northern Territory. However, when they arrive, they must embark on a crazy cross-country trip to find the bride’s mother, who has left her husband in a journey back to her traditional homeland of Tiwi.

For me, easily the strongest aspect of this movie is Miranda Tapsell as our leading bride. She also co-wrote and produced the film, and you can really feel her charm and humour come through in the majority of her scenes, as she really knows her character. Her chemistry with Gwilym Lee is also pretty good, nothing exceptional or terrible, and her performance is always at a consistent level of strength and charm throughout.

Every actor in this movie is giving a generally alright performance, with some such as Ursula Yovich as Tapsell’s character’s mother slipping in some great moments. Huw Higginson (an actor I strained to recall what I saw him in before, then realising he was the head of detention in The Sarah Jane Adventures who gets silenced by a Berserker – I should review that one day…) as her dad has some of the better moments of comedy in the film, as does Kerry Fox as Tapsell’s deadpan boss. Gwilym Lee is not particularly outstanding or terrible, but he’s just capable enough to do the job. Throw in brief scene-stealers from actors Jason DeSantis and Shaka Cook, and you have a solid cast of characters, none of whom are particularly annoying.

And that cast really defines this movie. Nothing about it, apart from its themes of culture and identity for Tapsell’s character, is particularly notable. It’s not even really that funny, more chuckle-worthy with not a lot that’s particularly witty. The plot is straightforward and mostly reliant on formula (there’s even a “everybody rushes to the same place to get there on time” bit at the end), except for those scenes which deal with heritage and family ideals, because those are genuinely interesting and handled really well.

In terms of actual filmmaking style, director Wayne Blair is similarly doing fine, but never outstanding. The cinematography by Eric Murray Lui is a lot like a tourist bit for attracting people to the Northern Territory, with a ton of landscape shots, but nothing really that interesting from a story or thematic standpoint. If there was a bit more messiness in presentation, a bit more life, then this movie would be at least more visually interesting, maybe even better quality.

Music and production design are similarly just there, as more something that’s just happening rather than something that’s supporting the story. It’s nowhere near as bad as some American romantic comedies like Jack and Jill or Home Again, where everything is so clean and glossy, but it’s not particularly interesting, either.

Legit found this image on Tourism Northern Territory.

The one thing in this movie which stands out to me as actively annoying is this subplot with Gwilym Lee’s job. I feel that the character actions here are so unrealistic, and the result so annoyingly predictable, that it really drags the movie down. If they were to remove this part, and maybe have the last part of the movie being the couple exploring Tiwi together and coming to grips with their family history, this movie would be much better.

Overall, this movie is O.K. but not outstanding. When it returns to the thematic idea of heritage and family, it picks up a bit, but sinks whenever they go back to the Gwilym Lee job subplot. Filmmaking and comedy-wise, it’s always hovering around tourist video, good-level stuff, nothing too great. I’m going to give it a 6/10, or a C+.

What other Australian movies out there could I review? Leave your answers in the comments below.