Mamma Mia: a Film review by Orwellianson

Posted by: Andrew in what the, Travel, sex, Roleplay, Reviews, Review, relationship, problems, pop culture, music, movies, film review, comedy, ABBA on Sep 18, 2008 Print PDF

Andrew

While the premise for a film loosely based on a play based on the songs of a singing group from the 70's sounds admirable, the fans of each group will have something to complain about with this humorous little entry into the musical franchise. While I enjoyed the movie, I left the theater feeling a bit empty. The film is about Donna; (played by the marvelous Meryl Streep)
a working woman, who runs a two bit island hotel in the middle of Greece. Oh and did I mention she is a single mother? Yup, this little piece of drama will play itself out later in the play, I mean FILM in a few moments but when shown in the film version, it is hesitant and boring. As it turns out Donna's daughter (played by foxy little Amanda Seyfried) is getting married, after 20 long years without a father figure to look up to (or to enhance the plot, however you want to look at it.) Sophie rummages through her mother's diary for clues on how she came to be. While I find this plot device a little far fetched (who keeps a diary after 21 years? Honestly it just takes up space, and you can't make very many new entries can you? It should be full by then, toss it and fill a new one!) how does Sophie know which Diary to pick? I may be nitpicking here, but it is all a slight observation.
Moving on, Sophie soon finds out that her mother, being the tramp she was all those years ago, finds out that she has 3 potential fathers, Harry,(played by Colin Firth) Sam (played by the always charming Pierce Brosnan, of OO7 fame) and Bill (Stellan Skarsgard) after a moment of intense and erratic thought Sophie decides to invite the three men to her wedding in hopes of finding her real father. Donna, is shocked to find the three men after twenty long years in her goat house. (What, a small letter couldn't suffice? a phone call? The characters seem to lack certain social graces.) After a few peeks at the weathered travelers, Meryl breaks into song (Mamma Mia, here I go again) to say Meryl is a gifted performer would be an understatement and a crime on my part. She is Ravishing! Her dancing and subtle graces are a delight to see and this film has no problem embracing that talent. After a few moments of singing and dancing we move on to Donna having a panic attack, wishing the men would go away so she can continue preparing for her daughter's wedding. While she does this, Sam notices sees a bit of himself in Sophie, recognizes her obvious talents and contemplates the possibility of her being his daughter. While I won't spoil the rest of the film for you, I will highlight some of the film's better moments. Seeing Pierce Brosnan singing for the first time on film was a slight shock. I was quite impressed to be honest, he has a slight Irish twang to his voice and it weaves beautifully into song. Here's hoping he is able to land another singing gig sometime in the near future. Colin Firth who I have seen in previous films is a delight as well, he has a subtle charm that cannot be improvised and his singing is a delightful sort that keeps you warm on a breezy day. Stellan Skarsgard, an actor I am not too familiar with, (that and I am too lazy to research at the moment) is also amusing to see. Streep's old pals from across the pond are Rosie (Julie Waters) and Tanya
(Christine Baranski) The film itself has quite a bit of fluff, which is nice but tends to get in the way some of the time. The Cinematography is gorgeous at times, with Greek shores and an enchanting church set upon an escalated precipice above the water. There are a few scenes that look a little fake but again this could be my nitpicking again. Some of the characters are given a slight bit of unneeded depth whereas in the play they are not as deep as they are in the film. While this offers a few moments of amusement, I think it distracts from the overall narrative. That being said some of the characters are a bit annoying at times and I wish they haven't been given camera time. The song and dance segments are juvenile at best, while the vocals offer some good feelings, I didn't care about some of the choreography, too rushed and a flurry of clothing on incredibly fit bodies. All in all I liked the film, it is good for a few laughs, has a likable cast (for the most part) and a score that will keep you dancing all night.

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Hmm...
written by thedjinn , September 20, 2008
Well, this wasn't awful - but really, here's my true issue. You need to fix your formatting here, it's just a mess. It makes things really unreadable - an easy fix, I think. Good luck.
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