Mamma Mia! (2008)

It’s my last night of freedom… which is what some might see it, but for me it’s the last night before the greatest adventure of my life.

– Sky

I was bored yesterday and I wanted to see a dumb movie. I heard that people hated Mamma Mia! I had a morbid curiosity to see if it was as atrocious as everyone thinks. The movie is not schlock, but it’s not Moulin Rouge! quality either. I’m sorry, Hugh Jackman, but the musical is not all the way back.

First, I heard about the Broadway production on the 2002 Tony Awards. It was nominated for Best Musical and all that. It seemed like a fun ride. It had the music of ABBA, which is always nice.

I heard that they were turning this into a film with Meryl Streep in the lead as Donna, I was scared. Yes, she did sing in Postcards from the Edge and A Prairie Home Companion, but this was a much beloved musical for last couple of years.

The plot is pretty thin. It centers around a weekend in the Greek Islands in the late 1980s. Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is getting married to Sky (Dominic Cooper). She wants to have her father give her away at her wedding. The problem is that she doesn’t know who her father is. She reads her mother, Donna’s diary and finds out that she has three possible fathers: Bill Anderson (Stellan Skarsgård), Sam Carmichael (Pierce Bronsan) and Harry Bright (Colin Firth). Hilarity ensues.

The movie was okay. The scenery was gorgeous. The editing was horrible. Some of the performances had me scratching my head.

Everybody is talking about how Pierce Bronsan’s singing would kill his career. I don’t think that. At the beginning, he sounded like Lurch trying to carrying a tune. In the uptempo selections, he was not good, but the slower ballads were better for his voice.

Judgment: If you want to see a slow moving train wreck, then this movie is for you.

Rating: **