Mamma Mia!: The Movie (2008) - Written By Fred [The Wolf]

DIRECTED BY
Phyllida Lloyd

STARRING
Meryl Streep - Donna Sheridan
Amanda Seyfried - Sophie Sheridan
Pierce Brosnan - Sam Carmichael
Colin Firth - Harry Bright
Stellan Skarsgard - Bill Anderson
Julie Walters - Rosie
Christina Baranski - Tanya
Dominic Cooper - Sky

Genre - Musical

Running - 108 Minutes

Score - 2.5 Howls Outta 4


If one were to answer "Who are the three biggest musical acts to ever live?", they'd probably answer Elvis Presley, The Beatles, and ABBA. Ever since their first Top 10 U.S. hit, "Waterloo", ABBA was a force to be reckoned with in the mid-to-late 1970s [and early 80s somewhat]. While American audiences know them pretty much for only their Number 1 hit, the overplayed and overrated "Dancing Queen", ABBA was more than that. They were pure pop music musicians, creating hooks and melodies that most bands then and even today would die for. Songs like "S.O.S.", "Fernando", "Knowing Me, Knowing You", "Take A Chance On Me", and "The Winner Takes It All" showed that ABBA were extremely catchy and talented, even when most people will dismiss them because it's the cool thing to do. When you have people like Scott Ian from Anthrax, Gene Simmons of KISS, and members of Metallica saying that ABBA influenced their music somewhat, that's saying something.

Unfortunately, the ABBA craze didn't last all that long once the two couples that formed the foursome divorced and got tired of performing together, disbanding for good in 1982 after their best album, the New Wavish "The Visitors". Ever since, rumors of a reunion have been squashed [the band turned down a billion dollars to reunite for ONE concert - talk about sticking to a break-up] and many fans have been left with tribute bands and multiple hit collections.

However, a new generation have become ABBA fans through the musicial that's been making millions of bucks around the globe, MAMMA MIA! With the massive success of the musicial using ABBA songs as the basis for the plot, a film version was inevitable. Unfortunately going up against the massive hype of THE DARK KNIGHT, the film version of MAMMA MIA! was released as an alternative to Batman going up against The Joker. Maybe it was for the best because while fun and entertaining, MAMMA MIA! doesn't compare to the recent revival of the musical genre such as CHICAGO, DREAMGIRLS, or HAIRSPRAY. Still, it's not all bad and is definitely worth a look at least once.

PLOT
For 20 years, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) has pretty much lived and helped out her mother, Donna (Meryl Streep), with some hotel on the Greek Isles. Sophie is preparing for her wedding with Sky (Dominic Cooper), but is feeling incomplete not knowing who her father is. Sophie finds Donna's diary and learns that her father could be three possible men - American architect Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan), British banker Harry Bright (Colin Firth), and Swedish adventurer Bill Anderson (Stellan Skarsgard). She sends secret invitations to each man, inviting them to her wedding, not really think that they'll show up. To Sophie's surprise, they do - and hilarity ensues. Donna almost has a heart attack seeing her three former lovers at her hotel, not expecting to see them again and not really sure which one of them is Sophie's dad.

REVIEW
MAMMA MIA! is energenic, campy, and entertaining to watch - especially with a crowd of people who know ABBA songs and sing along as if they're at a concert [believe me, I experienced it]. It's pretty faithful to the theater version but just not as good or as crafted. Something was definitely lost during the film adaptation because what could have been a very good musical turns into a disappointing opportunity.

The main flaw, as with the theater version, is the thin plot. Yeah, the whole "daughter invites three potential fathers to her wedding while the mother must deal with telling her daughter what a slut she was back when she was younger" is pretty funny. But the way the script tells the story and how its gets to its resolution is pretty lame. We don't really know anything about the characters unless through exposition, song, or short flashbacks. And it's really not enough because we don't get much substance when there's a song every 2 minutes. The story and the music never balance each other out, as the story plays second fiddle to the much more interesting ABBA compositions. And while some of these songs do help move the story along, some of them feel kind of forced, not adding much to the story at all. It's an easy to follow story and it's a great concept to base a musical on, but it could have gone further with the telling.

And while the way the story is told isn't all that great, the theater version at least hides it somewhat. Why? Because the stage actors really make you invested in what's going on. In the film version, you don't really get that sense at all. The acting is great [and I'll get to that shortly] but again, there's no substance or depth to these characters until the very end of the film. Plus, I felt the couples in the movie really had no chemistry with each other whatsoever. Sophie and Sky are engaged, but they had more of a brother-sister vibe to me. Yeah, the "Lay All Your Love On Me" musical sequence was pretty steamy and probably the only time they actually had some chemistry, but other than that? Not so much. They just didn't have enough scenes together to make the whole thing convincing. Same goes to Donna and her former lovers. Just not enough time to watch them interact. Especially Donna and Sam, who are really the ill-crossed lovers of the film. They had this bitterness with each other and then all of a sudden, they're expressing their love for each other? Like what? When did that happen? When Meryl Streep, probably the best actress living right now, can't manage to create chemistry with Pierce Brosnan, something's wrong there. At least they used "S.O.S." to try and do it. Great pop song if I ever heard one.

The direction was also pretty messed up for the most part. Theater director Phyllida Lloyd takes a crack at bringing a stage musical to the big screen. But the results are mixed. Too many close-ups for my taste, which tend to lose their effectiveness after a while. The choregraphy isn't as great to watch either. It's decent but nothing you haven't seen before. They don't really add much to the story either. Plus they're not shot all that great to begin with. The editing was also very choppy. I noticed a lot of mismatched shots in this film, especially during musical numbers. You would have a person singing, which would lead to another shot from behind their shoulder still singing, but their mouths wouldn't match the words of the song until a close-up of their face was shown again. It actually made me laugh a few times because it just looked so damn weird. I think I called a few goofs while watching this. And the cinematography could have been better too. Greece is such a beautiful location to shoot a film. Yet, the film didn't look all that crisp to me. Some of the colors were dull and didn't look all that attractive at times. Lloyd isn't a horrible director by any means, but definitely shows her inexperience. Maybe if she directs a few more features, she'll get the hang of it. But MAMMA MIA! suffers because of the visuals as well.

Luckily, MAMMA MIA! isn't about the story or the visuals. It's about the music from ABBA's catalogue. And boy, what a great selection that was used for this film. While "I Have A Dream" still annoys me as one of the dullest ABBA songs ever and "Honey Honey" is eh, I still got great songs in "S.O.S.", "Super Trouper", "Money, Money, Money" [probably one of the funniest fantasy sequences I've seen in a while], "Take A Chance On Me", and "Waterloo". And yes, "Dancing Queen" is in the film. TWICE. Hmph. Plus Meryl Streep sang her ass off on my personal favorite ABBA song, "The Winner Takes It All". It'll probably get her a Golden Globe nod just for that performance alone. It's emotional and breathtaking. I knew Streep had decent lungs but she blew me away with this one. Plus I liked the very unknown and underrated "Slipping Through My Fingers" [from "The Visitors" album] that she sang as well. The songs are fun, catchy, and used pretty well. Without the music, this film would be crap really. But they heighten the entertainment factor 100 times over because that's really the purpose of MAMMA MIA! to begin with.

The acting is also fantastic in the film. Meryl Streep, while a bit hammy, was excellent as Donna. She could have turned it down a tiny notch during the comedic situations but I can't totally fault her for it. It looked like she was having a lot of fun being in this film, doing things like singing, dancing, and performing splits in mid-air. Like I said, she has a beautiful voice that grabbed your attention. I was very moved by performance during the serious scenes near the end. Amanda Seyfried was also excellent as Sophie. She's cute, bubbly, and looked like she was having a blast. Plus she has a better singing voice than Streep. I was really taken aback by how well Seyfried sang the songs. She brought a youthful presence to the film that I enjoyed.

Pierce Brosnan was the lead male actor of the film. He was kind of stiff for me and he doesn't have a great singing voice. What makes it worse is that he sang more songs than any of the other males in the film. His "S.O.S." and "When All Is Said And Done" portions were kind of...well let's just say that Simon Cowell would rip him to pieces during the American Idol audition process. Colin Firth, for me, was the best of the male actors. Unlike Brosnan, Firth can sing pretty well and seemed to really cut it loose. He made me laugh at lot in this film, especially when he reveals a secret that really you could see from miles away. Stellan Skarsgard also seemed to be having fun not fighting Satan or wearing a ton of make-up for some PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN movie. He sang decently as well. Dominic Cooper as Sky was okay. He sang decently too but doesn't get to do much but take off his shirt and make me want to head into the gym. I'm sure the ladies and the gay guys will watch that "Lay All Your Love On Me" sequence over and over again on DVD.

The two people who made the film for me were Julie Walters and Christine Baranski, as Donna's best friends. They were the comic reliefs of the film and it worked awesomely. I was definitely laughing every time they opened their mouths. And they could definitely sing their asses off too. Baranski turned "Does Your Mother Know" smuttier than it has any right to be, and Walters made "Take A Chance On Me" into a pick up line. The chemistry between Streep, Baranski, and Waters was better than any other chemistry in the film. They really seemed like long time friends, making all their scenes together inviting and enjoyable.

And I gotta give props for the end credits, which had to be about 8 minutes of the most enjoyable encore I have seen in quite some time. You ever wanted to see Streep, Baranski, Walters, Firth, Brosnan, and Skarsgard sing "Dancing Queen" and "Waterloo" while wearing ABBA-like spandex outfits? Well this is for you. These actors definitely had a lot of fun making this film and not taking themselves seriously for a change. It was definitely a nice change of pace and made the film a lot more entertaining than it had any right to be.

THINGS I'VE LEARNED WHILE PRACTICING MY ABBA POSES

People really love dancing and singing to "Dancing Queen". Especially gay guys. I hope they don't ever do a musical based on songs by The Village People. Then the shit will definitely hit the fan. Sit your asses down, you Soul Train rejects!

THE FINAL HOWL
MAMMA MIA! isn't the greatest musical film ever made but it's definitely a fun one if you're a fan of ABBA. You're probably better off seeing the stage version or just listening to ABBA songs on rotation, but you could do a lot worse than watching Pierce Brosnan butcher good songs. Just a painless, brainless film if I ever saw one. It won't make you a "Dancing Queen", but you won't be crying "S.O.S." about it either.