If you don’t like musicals or the 1970s pop group ABBA, I would suggest up front to not see “Mamma Mia.” You will be completely miserable watching the frothy and bubbly fun unfolding before you on the screen. But for fans of the genre or music, that’s what will make you enjoy the movie. “Mamma Mia” is so upbeat and spunky that it radiates off the screen.
The worst part comes from a very unlikely source: Pierce Brosnan. He may be a silver fox who can transfix women who watch him, but when he sings it generates cringes instead of swooning. After hearing him sing a few bars during “Our Last Summer” with Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard, I hoped that he wouldn’t sing the rest of the film. But that’s not the case. He warbles out “S.O.S.” and “When All is Said and Done” with Meryl Streep, who saves him. To make matters worse, Brosnan looks awkward the entire time he’s on screen.
Streep and Amanda Seyfried are absolutely brilliant. I wouldn’t have expected anything less from Streep. Audiences haven’t heard her sing, with the exception of “A Prairie Home Companion,” and I was pleasantly surprised at how well she did with the role. Her vocals in “The Winner Takes it All” are so beautiful they bring tears to your eyes.
Seyfried was also a surprise with her singing abilities. Many know her as the oldest daughter of Bill Paxton on the TV show “Big Love,” or the wannabe weather girl in “Mean Girls.” Like Streep, she’s charming and so likable even non-musical fans will agree. The supporting cast of Julie Walters and Christine Baranski, who play Streep’s “back-up girls,” are phenomenal character actors and don’t disappoint in “Mamma Mia.”
First-time film director Phyllida Lloyd already has a background working with “Mamma Mia.” She directed the stage version on Broadway in 1999. Writer Catherine Johnson also wrote the stage version and did an incredible job transforming it from the stage to the big screen.
In “Mamma Mia,” 20-year-old Sophie (Seyfried) is about to marry Sky (Dominic Cooper), but she wants her father — whom she’s never met — to walk her down the aisle. She finds her mom’s diary from when she was pregnant with Sophie to find who her father is. There are three possible fathers: Sam (Brosnan), Harry (Firth) and Bill (Skarsgard), all of whom she invites to the wedding. She thinks she’ll know who her father is the moment she meets him.
Set on a beautiful, secluded island in Greece, Sophie and Donna (Streep) run a slightly rundown hotel/resort, and when Sam, Harry and Bill show up, it turns Donna’s world upside down. None of the men know they could possibly be Sophie’s father. The wedding is the following day, and Donna tells Sophie that maybe she should see the world instead of getting married at such a young age.
Tanya (Baranski) and Rose (Walters) show up to help Donna during this time when she’s losing her daughter. But they also provide great comic relief, singing “Money, Money, Money” and “Dancing Queen” to cheer Donna up. On the morning of the wedding, when Sophie asks her mother for help, and while singing “Slipping Through My Fingers,” there’s a true connection between mother and daughter. But Sophie still doesn’t know who her father is to walk her down the aisle.
“Mamma Mia” is so fun and the storyline works well with the music even on film instead of on stage. It doesn’t matter who you are, you will probably be tapping your toes and bobbing your head to the bouncy music. There’s no way you can leave the theater without a smile on your face, unless you absolutely hate ABBA or movie musicals. “Mamma Mia” is a little cheesy and exaggerated, but for the genre it fits in perfectly.
missy@tooeletranscript.com
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