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Mamma Mia! (2008)

Director: Phyllida Lloyd

Time Out rating

Average user rating

445 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Throughout the screening of ‘Mamma Mia!’ I kept clocking the security guard in the corner. What was he thinking, I wondered, as Pierce Brosnan belted out a power-ballad version of Abba’s ‘SOS’? For Bond purists, it must be like seeing your dad in a dress. Equally, what might this beacon of masculinity think if he saw me smiling as this featherweight and often ridiculous musical drew to a finale that’s so sunny, so saccharine, that you’d be forgiven for thinking that all involved were high on happy pills?

Presumably the guard was there to check that none of us took any snaps of Meryl Streep. There she was cavorting across the screen in dungarees with hair like straw, skipping through olive groves and singing ‘Dancing Queen’ with a Greek chorus in tow. One call to the taste police and the authorities would arrest her and withdraw all reels of this sickly sweet yet wildly – bafflingly – fun film. Once the credits – which feature the cast, dressed in pantomime ’70s gear, bashing out ‘Waterloo’ – had rolled, I asked the guard what he thought. ‘I’ve seen it four times,’ he said, with perfect timing. And you like it? Pause. ‘It has its moments.’

The story has all the symmetry and drive of a stage show. Twenty-year-old American Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is about to marry her fiancé, Sky (Dominic Cooper), in the grounds of a dilapidated hotel on a Greek island run by her tireless boho mother, Donna (Streep). Only she doesn’t know which of three of her mum’s former lovers is her dad. The solution? Invite them all.And so, unknown to Donna, businessman Sam (Brosnan), old hippy Bill (Stellan Skarsgård) and City gent Harry (Colin Firth) rock up to the sunniest of Greek islands.

They sing, they dance, they wonder who’s the father. It’s ‘Paternity: The Musical’. The story is pat, some voices are ropey, but Phyllida Lloyd succeeds in bringing this musical to the screen by indulging in not a whiff of ’70s nostalgia (until the credits), taking all the right things seriously – design, locations, casting, choreography – and rejecting elements that would have made it less forgivable: gloss, cynicism and irony.

Despite a flow of beach bods, there’s no worship of superficial beauty beyond the casting of the young leads, Seyfried and Cooper (and neither is a vapid youngster of ‘The OC’ sort). Lloyd plays it straight as a bat and finds a working balance between the fantasy of the musical numbers, the fairytale story and the down-to-earth presentation of the characters. The one concession she makes to Hollywood is that more of the leads are American than in the stage version – but she more than compensates by casting Julie Walters in a major role.

Just watch her sing and dance to ‘Take a Chance on Me’. There’s nothing slick about that. The men are a rum, awkward bunch. Skarsgård (age 57) looks like he’s having far too good a time being rubbed by young women during one number; Colin Firth doesn’t push the boat out and plays a bumbling Englishman; and, however hard he tries, Brosnan doesn’t remind you of Brando in ‘Streetcar…’ even when yelling ‘Donna!’ at Streep.

‘Mamma Mia!’ is not a man’s film. I mean this in the way that films about football hooligans who get loaded and smash the skulls of other hooligans are not women’s films. But I suspect that a fair few men (and not a few women) will find that this film appeals to an urge for wholesome trash and confounds their expectations. Against the odds, ‘Mamma Mia!’ is a summer movie that’s as camp as Christmas and as enjoyable as a pantomime. I suspect Streep will win an Oscar nomination; at 59, and still doing the splits, she’s game enough to deserve one.

Author: Dave Calhoun 2008-07-09 11:57:27

Time Out London Issue 1977, July 10 -16, 2008

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User reviews of this film

victoria said...

Posted on Aug 12 2009 20:31 This is the best film I have ever seen. It isn't just coz I like the songs it is because the cast really ARE meant for their characters. My brothe really liked Rosie (played by Julie Walters) There is no point buyin this film coz u can get it on sky now and download it onto a dvd. (Okay yes I have bought the dvd and watched it about a million times joke!) GET THIS MOVIE!!!

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mel said...

Posted on Aug 12 2009 18:17 i loved mamma mia, i watched it loads off times. ive got it on dvd!! it is a wkd film soph + sky :) all the abba songs are great!! love mel xx

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Stephen said...

Posted on Jul 30 2009 21:16 Oh dear, Selected it for my wife as she heard it was a great "feelgood" movie. After the first couple of songs even she was reaching for the fast forward button on the musical breaks! Badly sung and danced by the cast to almost cringeworthy standards. Sorry fans of the film, but not our cup of tea.

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blib said...

Posted on Apr 06 2009 10:37 Bit scary some of these rave reviews. Can only assume it's the same people who will queue for three month for Robbie Williams tickets so they can sing his (sorry not his are they?) songs back to him. 14 year olds apart who don't know any better.We are doomed.

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film crit said...

Posted on Mar 15 2009 17:14 I've been cheated by you since I don't know when
So I made up my mind, it must come to an end
Look at me now, will I ever learn?
I don't know how but I suddenly lose control
There's a fire within my soul
Just one look and I can hear a bell ring
One more look and I forget everything, o-o-o-oh
Mamma mia, here I go again
My my, how can I resist you?
Mamma mia, does it show again?
My my, just how much I've missed you
Yes, I've been brokenhearted
Blue since the day we parted
Why, why did I ever let you go?
Mamma mia, now I really know,
My my, I could never let you go.
I've been angry and sad about the things that you do
I can't count all the times that I've told you we're through
And when you go, when you slam the door
I think you know that you won't be away too long
You know that I'm not that strong.
Just one look and I can hear a bell ring
One more look and I forget everything, o-o-o-oh
Mamma mia, here I go again
My my, how can I resist you?
Mamma mia, does it show again?
My my, just how much I've missed you
Yes, I've been brokenhearted
Blue since the day we parted
Why, why did I ever let you go?
Mamma mia, even if I say
Bye bye, leave me now or never
mamma mia, it's a game we play
Bye bye doesn't mean forever
Mamma mia, here I go again
My my, how can I resist you?
Mamma mia, does it show again?
My my, just how much I've missed you
Yes, I've been brokenhearted
Blue since the day we parted
Why, why did I ever let you go
Mamma mia, now I really know
My my, I could never let you go

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John Charles said...

Posted on Feb 06 2009 18:47 Oh dear, what a disappointment. Julie Walters and Pierce Brosnan were out of their depth. I love the music of Abba -- this wasted many of the top numbers vand the storyline was risible and got nowhere.

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savieh said...

Posted on Jan 26 2009 09:31 it is mint !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!iv seen it 7 tyms yeye

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James said...

Posted on Jan 11 2009 08:27 I like ABBA cd's, but not this. Too many of the stars couldn't sing, and the characters were annoying.

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mamarita said...

Posted on Jan 05 2009 19:53 this was the best feel good movie of 20000008.nothing can beat it .it woz fab-u-l-os

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mamarita said...

Posted on Jan 05 2009 19:53 this was the best feel good movie of 20000008.nothing can beat it .it woz fab-u-l-os

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baby said...

Posted on Jan 05 2009 19:48 it was so good i watched it on the plane i love donna and sofie dey r gr8

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chicca said...

Posted on Jan 05 2009 13:04 hello
I come from germany
and saw the film 2 month ago in the cinema
I don't like old songs but the ones in the film were awesome...I loved this movie!!!
(I hope that my english is quite correct :) )

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crazie aimee said...

Posted on Dec 20 2008 10:34 it is brill im sad though i have lost the dvd

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josh said...

Posted on Dec 15 2008 10:21 ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC FILM SAW IT LAST NIGHT LOVED IT I'M 14 AND I THINK ITS AMAZING SO ITS GOTTA BE GOOD!

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cis said...

Posted on Dec 08 2008 19:54 Do you have the DVD y'all

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