Aye, Mamma Mia!

The Port Arthur News

July 17, 2008 11:23 pm

— 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?
I can certainly understand the appeal of a show that celebrates family and love by using nostalgic dance tunes from the 1970s. Indeed, there is a giddy sense of joy that fills the screen when the island’s entire female population suddenly breaks into a spirited rendition of “Dancing Queen.” The secret seems to be with so many women singing, that particular song has a lot of energy and sounds good.
Most of the other numbers do not fare so well.
Music aside, Meryl Streep is always engaging, and the women in the audience will certainly love watching Pierce Brosnan in a romantic role. The problem is that you can’t divorce the music from this story, and Brosnan’s macho image is shattered every time he starts to sing. Streep, Firth, Skarsgard and Baranski are also hit-and-miss on their numbers, although they do all seem to be having a ball strutting their way through this outlandish story, and their enthusiasm makes some of the songs work. Julie Waters is particularly delightful to watch, playing a vivacious old gal who’s got her eye on one of the island’s new bachelors.
I love Broadway musicals and will even admit that I have a few ABBA songs on my iPod, so I’ll admit that “Mamma Mia” makes for campy fun at times, but the bottom line is that it’s hard to get swept up by the story when the singing keeps making you wince. This could have been a hoot had the filmmakers hired real singers instead of movie stars. All I can do is shake my head and say, “Aye, Mamma mia, what a disappointment.”
Movie reviews by Sean, “The Movie Guy,” are published bi-weekly in “The Port Arthur News” and weekly on KFDM-TV. Sean welcomes your comments via email at smcbride@kavutv.com.

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