Aye, Mamma Mia!

“Mamma Mia”

Universal Pictures

Directed by Phyllida Lloyd

Starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, Julie Walters, Christine Baranski and Amanda Seyfried

Rated PG-13

1 1/2 Stars

I enjoy a night of drunken karaoke as much as the next guy, but I’m smart enough to realize that the fun is directly related to my participation in the singing and the swilling of beer. How does this relate to the new movie “Mamma Mia?” As many designated drivers can painfully attest, sitting sober in a theater while watching people badly massacre old pop tunes is simply not an enjoyable experience.

Not even when the singers are movie stars.

Based on the crowd-pleasing Broadway musical, “Mamma Mia” is the story of Sophie, a young woman who grew up without knowing the identity of her father. She desperately wants daddy to walk her down the aisle on her upcoming wedding day, but since Mamma (Meryl Streep) won’t reveal daddy’s name, Sophie is forced to improvise. She steals an old diary, scans through the romantic entries and impulsively invites three of her mother’s old boyfriends to attend the wedding. Just in case the romantic foreshadowing isn’t completely apparent, the wedding is conveniently being held on a Mediterranean island rumored to be the birthplace of the goddess Aphrodite.

Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard play the three possible daddies who show up for the nuptials, while Julie Waters and Christine Baranski also appear, playing two close friends from mom’s wilder days. The rest plays like a typical romantic comedy of errors, with the conceit being that the story and all of the inevitable complications are expressed by having the cast suddenly burst into classic pop tunes from the old disco group ABBA.

You were expecting The Ramones?