Movie No. 18: Mamma Mia

I would like to begin this review by admitting that I am not in the target demographic for this film, which, judging by the audience we saw it with, is women in their 40s and 50s. They seemed to enjoy it immensely, and my wife liked it too. That being said, I spent most of the first half of the film wondering if Meryl Streep accidentally killed the choreographer's cat or something.

For those who don't know, "Mamma Mia" is based off a popular musical, which is based off the collecting works of the Scandinavian pop quartet ABBA. The plot centers around a young woman (Amanda Seyfried of "Mean Girls" fame) who is about to get married but believes there is a hole in her life, namely that she doesn't know who her father is. So, she finds her mom's diary from the year of her birth and finds there are actually three potential candidates. So, what else is there to do but invite all three (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard) to the wedding, all without telling her mother (Streep).

Remember my comment about Streep and the cat? Well, the dance numbers, especially early in the film, seem designed to do little but make Streep look foolish without actually being funny. I know this might be heretical to say about one of the great living actors, but Streep never quite feels at home here. Maybe it is because, with the exception of a couple of nice scenes with Seyfried, she's never really in a scene with anyone else playing it straight. Julie Walters and Christine Baranski as her old friends and bandmates are delightfully over-the-top (Walters' hilarious turn is by far the best thing about the film), and Pierce Brosnan, as the once great love of her life, seems to be going for cheese while Streep's going for genuine emotion. Perhaps more for this reason than any, the movie is actually better when Streep isn't on screen.

Also, as is too often the case with musicals, there are a couple of dance numbers that just feel tacked on for the sake of getting the song into the show or adding a big number for a specific character.

It's not all bad by any means. As I mentioned, Julie Walters might indeed gnaw on every piece of the film's beautiful scenery, but she is very often hysterical doing it. Amanda Seyfried also showed a lot of promise. Given Lindsay Lohan's problems and Rachel McAdams' seeming self-imposed exile, she might just end up with the best career of the "Mean Girls."

That being said, the film's eye-roll to guffaw ratio isn't all that good, at least from the perspective of this mid-20s male.

C-