DVD Review: “Mamma Mia!”
Rating: 39
“Mamma Mia!” is two hours of rich people goofing around with other rich people’s money, and while that might serve as an encapsulation of the movie business, nowhere is this truer than Phyllida Lloyd’s sunny, carefree and thoroughly excruciating “jukebox musical.” And yes, it’s for ABBA acolytes and almost no one else, and fair-weather fans who can take a little “Knowing Me, Knowing You” or “Take a Chance on Me” on special occasions could find themselves cured of that ailment by this film’s unrelentingly fake good times.
Poor Sophie Sheridan (Amanda Seyfried) never knew her father, one of three well-heeled playboys (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard) who once dated her mother Donna (Meryl Streep). So she invites the men to the nuptials on the eve of her Greek Islands marriage, hoping to determine which one donated his genes. And there is much dancing, singing and air-guitar flailing. Yes, Oscar-winner Streep deploys air-guitar heroics during “Dancing Queen” before playfully pushing her friends into the Aegean. Joy.
Sure, the built-in audience for “Mamma Mia!” is sending its angry missives right about now, but without all those ingratiating ABBA classics, this would be an obvious embarrassment to every talented performer involved in this happy little train wreck. On the plus side, Brosnan could have avoided making those wounded moose noises. Also on the plus side, the “sing-a-long” version included on this DVD can be used to drown him out.
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Comments
Phththththththtt! That’s my review of the idea of making this film. Since I will never see it, I will have to raspberry it from outside. Very far outside. I’m sorry you had to sit through it in a professional capacity because I can sense how bad it hurt.
I used to think, “Whatever keeps them from making another crappy one-liner superhero movie…” but now I’m not so sure.
HILARIOUS! Not the movie, but your review. I love it!