TOP END WEDDING

Director
Wayne Blair
(THE SAPPHIRES, SEPTEMBERS OF SHIRAZ)

Stars
Miranda Tapsell, Gwilym Lee, Kerry Fox and Huw Higginson

For this Australian romantic comedy to receive as warm a reception from its viewers as intended, all eyes must be firmly focused on its matrimonial final prize. Even though its own gaze goes walkabout all too often.

Co-writer and star Miranda Tapsell (TV series Love Child and THE SAPPHIRES) stars as Lauren, a lawyer who shares an apartment with her English boyfriend, Ned (Gwilym Lee from BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY). When Ned pops the question, the loved-up pair agree to get hitched in just a matter of days. But first, they’ll have to fly up north to Darwin to locate the whereabouts of Lauren’s mother Daffy (Ursula Yovich), who has suddenly left her husband Trevor (Huw Higginson) in search of a fresh start.

37590659-IridientEdit
I truly do want to be sharing kinder words for TOP END WEDDING with you, but when its numerous shortcomings leave roughly 40 minutes of worthwhile viewing on offer from its 103 minute duration, a recommendation is very difficult to give.

For starters, don’t be too concerned if you’re running late and miss the opening fifteen minutes (or so) that establish the basics covered off in my synopsis above prior to the proposal coming. There’s no reason why TOP END WEDDING couldn’t have opened with the proposal while forming its foundation simultaneously with the familial developments that will send Ned and Lauren to Darwin. Even earlier scenes that depict our two leads beginning their search throughout the Northern Territory outback struggle to be cohesive with sub-plotting that bears little substance. Most conversations shared by the characters who occupy these sub-plots don’t have the punch, wit or sharpness needed to make them consistently funny either. Furthermore, considering that TOP END WEDDING is largely situated in what is foreign territory for many of its characters, the writers haven’t quite seized upon an opportunity to intrinsically derive humour to the extent possible.

37700041-Edit_2
Though arguably not quite enough to say that TOP END WEDDING achieves a pass mark, it does thankfully start to improve as Lauren and Ned’s search for Daffy draws closer to a conclusion. A minor contribution later in the film from Lauren’s boss, Hampton (a class above in quality of performance from Kerry Fox), helps to steer this rom-com into the direction we’ve all been waiting for. The beautiful locations that TOP END WEDDING is set and shot throughout are all nicely captured and incorporated too, but perhaps none more so than the rarely seen Tiwi Islands. To witness the scenes filmed in this location as well as the inclusion of indigenous life here and certain traditions is a real treat.