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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

daniel said...

Posted on Jul 12 2008 04:08 I had so much fun, can't wait to see it again!!!! Loved the songs, the acting, the scenery... I really had a great night out with my friends. We ended up dancing in the aisles just like eveyrone else. I also bought the CD and have been playing it nonstop since then.

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Lynne said...

Posted on Jul 11 2008 21:35 Abso-bloody-lutely fantastic. Very clever, very bloody clever. If you love Abba, need I say more. You cannot see this just once this film hits you just where a film should-between the eyes and leaves you reeling. Meryl Streep! What a voice, hope I look half as good at 59! Watch out for cameo appearance from Abba member (he's on the piano). Fantastic!

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Karen said...

Posted on Jul 11 2008 19:39 From start to finish this was pure joy. I absolutely loved it. You must go and see it. I will definitely be going again.

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lianne said...

Posted on Jul 11 2008 11:51 what time is on to on saturday

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ness said...

Posted on Jul 11 2008 11:46 absolutley fantastic, i went to see this live in manchester i think it was last year it was great, it has just got even better on screen. my advise is get to the nearest cinema and see it, you wont be dissappointed!!!!!!!!!! i know i wasn't!!!

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Fredrik said...

Posted on Jul 11 2008 05:28 Feel good, chick-flicks for the middleages are not normally my cup of tea, but I had some muach fun watching MammaMia last night that I want to see it again soon.

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natalia said...

Posted on Jul 11 2008 03:52 ab fab! meryl is immense! and brosnan is HOT!!!
youre a fool if you dont go to see this twice at least!!!!!!

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David said...

Posted on Jul 10 2008 23:38 Great film - took my 6 year old daughter and had a great night out. A good feel good film. A must see.

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Anita said...

Posted on Jul 10 2008 20:40 Great feel good, fun film. Will be great on DVD for a girls night in. One to watch it again and again...

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Burke Omalley said...

Posted on Jul 10 2008 20:16 Big fun. Like a rum cake. All boozy and floozy.
Want to see it again.

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mary from inverurie said...

Posted on Jul 10 2008 18:04 Quite a fun film. Liked Colin with the guitar. Piece's singing could be forgiven! I'm sure the Abba fans will like it. M.

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