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Mamma Mia! (2008)

Director: Phyllida Lloyd

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446 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

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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Caitlin said...

Posted on Oct 20 2008 16:12 I know I sais I woz not going to post again but I just want 2 say thank u to Lovexxxx 4 apologising 2 me and Kath just 2 keep u happy I will say that I liked mamma mia some people do others don't I don't want 2 start arguing wif anyone about because this site is not about arguing it is about commenting on films. I know that I argued wif people but I am not going 2 anymore people are entitled 2 their own opinion

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Hannah said...

Posted on Oct 20 2008 16:06 Apology accepted. Also to keep Kath happy I would just like to say I LOVED this film and would happily go and see it a 4th time

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kelleeeeeeeeeeee said...

Posted on Oct 20 2008 16:04 Kath u just said that this site was 2 comment on mamma mia but wot r u not doing?????????
Just 2 keep u happy I would like 2 say that I quite liked mamma mia it woz not the best film EVA but it was still good entertainment

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Kath said...

Posted on Oct 20 2008 14:34 I think you've all forgotten what this site is for? It's to coment on the film Mamma Mia?

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LoVeXxXxX said...

Posted on Oct 16 2008 17:24 Well good and im sorri for doing that but atleast u all came to an agreement,, so i prooved my point adn helped u lote,, anyways Sorri to catlin, hannah adn everyone else,, since its tru i dont no u,, but BigMeUp,, ur a very negative person, aldoe i dnt matter to me,, its a bit sad (not callin u sad just suggestin it) that u want to argue with me wen im trying to stop arguments,, Soo SORRY to the ppl this has effected,, anless ofcourse ur bigmeup :| and BTW im not saying nothing bout ur views,, if u dnt like it or not,, well gd for u ini so dnt u accuse me of being rude bout ppls views thnks :) xx soz for teh caustious the rest of u :D

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Jimmy No-Mates said...

Posted on Oct 16 2008 14:39 I know this has nothing 2 do with me but I don't think that people r freaks for liking to comment on this webpage because they can do what they like and u can't stop them but i see u have manage to force Caitlin and Hannah away from this website. U should be ashamed of yourselves. I also loved Mamma Mia but other people have different opinions and it is up to them.

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Hannah said...

Posted on Oct 16 2008 14:35 LoVeXxXxXxXxXx, u have no right to call me a freak for commenting on this page because
1 - u just did
2 - I signed up 4 the updates when people comment so I end up getting messages when people like u comment and if i don't like them I reply to them
3 - u don't know me
AND
4 - i don't know u
But since people like u are always complaining about me i am no loger commenting on this webpage.

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Sandra said...

Posted on Oct 16 2008 14:27 I know this is none of my buisness but all those people who said caitln and big me up should stop arguing should just leeve them alone!!!! They have a right to disscuss if they want they are just stating thier opinions. I 4 1 loved mamma mia but I know plenty of people who hated it

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caitlin said...

Posted on Oct 16 2008 14:22 OK now I realise that I need to stop arguing with big me up over mamma mia but lovexxxxx I don't think that you have the right to call ME a freak correct me if I am wrong but YOU also posted a commene. The only reason I read these comments is because I get those email updates so everytime someone posts about mamma mia I read the comment. If I think they are wrong then I speak up I am not going to be too scared to give my opinions!!!! But I am going to stop the email updates and stop posting on this website

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BigMeUp said...

Posted on Oct 16 2008 09:48 cis said...
"Bigmeup I still say Mamma Mia was great I can say what I like about it and anything else and I now chose to make this the last time I send a message 2 u."
>Are you drunk? Are you abusing narcotics? Are you clinically insane? When did I post to you, or even post about you? As far as I can tell, this is the first time I've seen your moniker. If this is the last time you post to me, all I can say is, "Hurray!!!"

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cis said...

Posted on Oct 15 2008 20:17 Bigmeup I still say Mamma Mia was great I can say what I like about it and anything else and I now chose to make this the last time I send a message 2 u

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BigMeUp said...

Posted on Oct 15 2008 18:38 > LoVeXxXxX
I'm a freak because I'm posting in here? And where did you post, you putz?
>And to all the others who wrote, "don't argue, the film is great", I say, shaddup! Who cares what you think, when you don't even have the balls to stand up and defend your views. At least caitlin had the spunk to stand up and be counted. You others are as welcome to the discussion as a fart in lift! Since no one asked for your opinion about the discussion, and since you say you don't like the arguing, why did you post at all?. So just freaking shuddup!

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JoNn EeH said...

Posted on Oct 15 2008 16:03 this film is a absulutely full of livelyness film n people are just puttin a downer on it by arguin like 2 year olds over different veiws get a life I THOUGHT THE FIL WAS ABSULUTELY FANTASTIC!! SO SCREW YA IF UR ARGUIN OVA A BLOODY FILM sad i tell ya !!lol

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LoVeXxXxX said...

Posted on Oct 14 2008 18:17 Hanna Catlin nd BIGMEUP ur all freacks y r u soo addicted to this website....... The film was okieee i read this review before i went to see it and i agree with it :) i like some parts but not others but im going to see it in the westend :)
Stop Fitin FREACKSSSSSSSSSS...

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