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Bookmark this pageMamma Mia! (2008)
Director: Phyllida Lloyd
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
Time Out London Issue 1977, July 10 -16, 2008
User reviews of this film
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- Laura said...
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Posted on Oct 28 2008 14:59
Film of the Year!
Come out smiling! Loved it! Perfect for all ages! - Report as inappropriate
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- aimee said...
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Posted on Oct 27 2008 22:32
The comment yobetter than the other one
type in this box will appear on the site - Report as inappropriate
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- Chris said...
- Posted on Oct 27 2008 13:03 Amazing film - not perhaps the cleverest in terms of cinematography etc. but the feeling you leave with is just indescribable and we all need a bit of THAT at the moment. I have seen in 11 times and intend to see it once more before it leaves the cinemas - DVD out in less than a month - LOL - Amazon say it wil be the biggest selling DVD EVER as their pre-orders are massive.
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- Jess x said...
- Posted on Oct 27 2008 12:57 I have seen mama mia with my friends . It is so funni woth the sing along and things . I think it was AMAZING !!
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- kath said...
- Posted on Oct 27 2008 11:55 brill
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- kirby said...
- Posted on Oct 27 2008 11:45 realy good seen it two times no got the cd and everthing
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- kirby said...
- Posted on Oct 27 2008 11:45 realy good seen it two times no got the cd and everthing
- Report as inappropriate
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- kirby said...
- Posted on Oct 27 2008 11:45 realy good seen it two times no got the cd and everthing
- Report as inappropriate
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- cis said...
- Posted on Oct 26 2008 19:37 hey its a Mamma Mia site so everyone can say how they feel, I still think its a great movie always will :))) Cannot wait for it to come out on DVD ahhhhhhhhhhh
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- becca + cj said...
- Posted on Oct 26 2008 19:13 bloody brill ae seen it 3 times best film ever
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- Marla said...
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Posted on Oct 24 2008 17:47
Awful awful awful.
I cringed the whole way through it.
Streep isn't right and the Mean Girls actress is alright and Dominic, who I love, was good but... the film was unbearable. The script? I didn't laugh once. The singing every other minute did my head in and note that I like Abba and I love musicals. - Report as inappropriate
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- gabzz said...
- Posted on Oct 22 2008 19:38 this film is FilPING dudie i love it bby x
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- gabzz said...
- Posted on Oct 22 2008 19:38 this film is FilPING dudie i love it bby x
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- Sadia said...
- Posted on Oct 21 2008 20:42 GREAT FILM =O Lovexx.. gd u sed sorri =D ..x..
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- Kath said...
- Posted on Oct 20 2008 18:25 keleeeeeeeeeeee....I see what you mean but if you look back on previous comments you'll find that I have already commented on Mamma Mia. Glad to hear you've all taken my comments on board, lets have more positive feedback. Mamma Mia is the best!
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Cast & crew
Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Cast: Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, Julie Walters, Dominic Cooper, Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski full cast
Genre(s): Musicals
Rated: PG
Duration: 109 mins
UK Release: Jul 11 2008
US Release: Jul 18 2008
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