Lauren(MirandaTapsell)is a confidentyoungAboriginal
corporatelawyerliving in Adelaide;her partner,British
immigrantNed (GwilymLee), is a Crownprosecutor.
While she is thrivingin her career(albeit clumsily– trying
to hide brokenheels under her desk, franticallybrush-
ing pastrysugar off her lapel),he is strugglingwith the
moralsof workingto prosecuteelderlywomenfor minor
infractions.She is offereda promotion;he quits and,
ratherthan tellingLaurenhe has done so, proposes.
It is, of course,a ‘yes’ – but there is quicklya catch:
her boss, Hampton(an icy Kerry Fox), has offeredher an
immediateten days off work beforeher promotionkicks in,
and Laurenwants to get marriednow. In Darwin.With her
parents.Easyenough, thinksNed. But, in Darwin,there’s
just Lauren’sdad, Trevor (Huw Higginson),hiding himselfin
the pantryand cryingto Chicago’s‘If You Leave Me Now’.
Her mum, Daffy (UrsulaYovich),is nowhereto be found.
TopEndWedding(2019),directedby WayneBlair
from a script by first-timefeaturewritersTapselland
JoshuaTyler, is a rare incursionby Australiancinemainto
romanticcomedy.The film’s promotionalpostercaptures
the tropesof the genre straightaway:the smilingwoman,
the perhapsslightlyapprehensiveman, the dog (a staple
of comicrelief in a genre alreadydefinedby its comedy).
Its trailer,too, capturesthis spirit: the funky music,the
escalationof the stakes,the jokes,the girlfriends,the
awkwardsoon-to-bein-laws,the dog embarrassed and
layingits head onto its paws.
The romanticcomedyhas a long historyin Hollywood
- notableclassicsincludeIt HappenedOneNight(Frank
Capra,1934),ThePhiladelphiaStory(GeorgeCukor,
- andTheBattleoftheSexes(CharlesCrichton,
1960).It wasWhenHarryMetSally(Nora Ephron,1989),
though,that truly launchedthe rom-cominto a critical
blockbustergenre;its successgave rise to an explosion
of such films, with the late 1990sand 2000sseeingthe
rom-com’sheyday.^1 Despiteoccasionallycomingat us
from the UK, the romanticcomedyis a very Hollywood
product– and a largelylucrativeone at that. At the genre’s
most recentpeak in 1999, romanticcomediesmade up
9.9 per cent of the market share at the US box office.^2
As their commercialsuccesseswere matchedby
their ubiquity,Hollywoodrom-comsincreasinglybe-
came risk-averseand relianton formulas.Act 1: a man
and a womanmeet, then fall for each other. Act 2: life
gets in the way and they cannotbe together.Act 3: they
make it work. This formulaicapproachalso extended
to characterisation.The ambitiousfemaleprotagonist
who is strivingfor collegeor a prestigiousperforming
arts school,or workingas a lowly magazinestafferor
fledglinglawyer,occasionallyas a maid. The leadingman
who is at once perfectand yet all wrongfor her – too rich
or too poor, in a relationship,or perhapstrulywrongand
a decoyuntil the real love interestcomesalong.The cruel
older woman– a boss or a mother-in-law-to-be– who is
chronicallysingle,unhappilymarriedor bitterlydivorced.
The pet – a cat for the desperatelysingle,a dog for the
one who needsa meet-cute,a pig for the quirky.The
best girlfriendswho will save the day. Prolificactors
Meg Ryan, ReeseWitherspoon,Kate Hudson,Jennifer
Lopez,Anne Hathaway,JenniferGarner,Katherine
Heigl, KirstenDunst,Julia Roberts,CameronDiaz, Julia
Stiles and BrittanyMurphyall built their careerson the
genre.The leadingladies they playedwere all the same:
skinny;largelyblonde;classicallybeautiful,or ‘ugly’ only
inasmuchas they wore glassesand didn’t own a hair
straightener(both thingsthat could and would change);
alwaysheterosexual.^3
Australia,withoutan equivalentlarge-scalecom-
mercialfilm industry,has never seen the same levels
of rom-comsuccessor proficiencyas the US; indeed,
Australia’skey rom-comtouchpointspredatethe genre’s
2000sacme:1994’sMuriel’sWedding(PJ Hogan^4 ) and
1992’sStrictlyBallroom(Baz Luhrmann).YetTopEnd
Weddingneatlyfits into the classicrom-commould,hit-
ting many of the genre’snotes – the ambitiouswoman;
the severe,singleboss; the dog; the best friends.But,
most crucially,and strangely,it doesn’tever play with the
relationshipbetweenLaurenand Ned. There is romance,
and there is comedy,but there is little comedyaround
the romance.Becauseof this, the film falterswithinthe
genre’s constructs – stakes that appear in the trailer arePreviousspread,L–R:Lauren(MirandaTapsell);groomsmanRobbie(MattCrook)andbridesmaidsDana(ElaineCrombie),Kailah(Dalara
Williams)andRonelle(ShariSebbens)Thisspread,L–R:Lauren’seventualhusband,Ned(GwilymLee,centre),withFatherIsaac(Rob
Collins) and Robbie; Lauren and Ned; Lauren is walked down the aisle by her father, Trevor (Huw Higginson), and mother, Daffy (Ursula Yovich)
14 • Metro Magazine 201 | © ATOM