‘The Deb’ Review: Rebel Wilson’s TIFF Closer Is An Uneven But Still Rousing Australian Musical With Hot Young Cast – Toronto Film Festival
deadline.comWith the goal of making a big-screen Australian musical in the vein of movies like Muriel’s Wedding and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert that made such an impression on her growing up, Rebel Wilson has in many ways measured up to the delights that made those films modern classics in The Deb, which just had its World Premiere at the Closing Night of the Toronto International Film Festival.
Overshadowed in the past few weeks by a public dispute between Wilson and the film’s producers that nearly derailed this premiere, that kind of negative energy should not cloud what, for much of its two-hour running time, is a toe-tapping, dazzling, fun and young musical entertainment with an exceptional cast in the kind of showcase that makes future stars.
Wilson knows exactly what kind of entertainment she wants to serve up here, and for at least the first half — starting with a hilarious and wonderfully staged production number called “FML” or actually “F— My Life” — we are off to the races.
Set in a dusty, no-hope town in the Australian Bush, the story, conceived originally by Hannah Reilly and Meg Washington as a stage musical for which they respectively also wrote lyrics and music, centers on Taylah Simpkins (Natalie Abbott), a kind of Cinderella figure, somewhat overweight but who dreams of attending the town’s annual debutante ball (yes, this two-bit place actually has a debutante ball).
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