Mamma Mia!

To Mamma Mia! then, a movie easily slipping in past Coyote Ugly as the second-worst film I've ever seen (behind The Rocky Horror Picture Show). My eyes. I can't unsee it.

From what I could gather (and that's not because the plot is difficult - Christ, no - or because I wasn't really paying attention, it's because the film seemed to be not sinking in, not digesting in my brain. I think my brain was trying to reject it, like a foreign object) - an airy-fairy middle-aged bohemian tart (Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady) prances and dances around her primary-coloured villa on an unspecified Greek (I think) island. Her equally airy-fairy "Barbie Princess" daughter (Amanda Seyfried, Les Misérables) prances and dances around with her. That seems to b...

Really enjoyable film, with a lot of funny one-liners, and despite the fact that a lot of them are rubbish singers, that partly adds to the humour, and obviously, Amanda, Meryl, Colin and others do have good voices :)

SPOILERS AHEAD

Mamma Mia! is an American-British romantic comedy musical directed by Phyllida Lloyd. The movie is loosely based on the original London musical also directed by Lloyd, and was the brain child of Judy Craymer who was convinced ABBA songs could be used in a theatrical production, especially after hearing the love ballad The Winner Takes It All. Craymer along with British playwright Catherine Johnson also worked on this film. Johnson being the original musical's scriptwriter wrote the movie's script, Craymer was an executive producer alongside Gary Goetzman as well as Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson.

The film stars Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Julie Walters, Dominic Cooper, Amanda Seyfr...

With a good cast and an enviable and appealing soundtrack, the film promised to be excellent but it turned out to be much more average than I imagined.

First of all, I think I need to make a note: I can't say that I'm an ABBA fan, but the truth is that I have a great affection for the band and their songs, because they were songs that I remember hearing on TV when I was a kid. It is a childhood memory, which has a sentimental charge, and which cannot be evaluated in a completely neutral way (childhood memories never leave us neutral).

I have yet to say that I had high expectations for the film. I'm not just talking about the music and the various songs I remember listening to, but also the enormous quality of the cast selected for...

How can anyone not like this? Phyllida Lloyd has managed to convince half a dozen serious A-list stars to take part in this Mediterranean musical extravaganza. Meryl Streep and Christine Baranksi are cracking and Julie Walters - when the three together sing "Chiquitita" is glorious. Sure, it's not a wonderful piece of classic cinema; but it must bring a smile to your face (even if - as Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgård or Colin Firth break into song, it's more of a grimace). Dominic Cooper makes a valiant effort as "Sky" who is to wed the orchestrator of this whole predicament "Sophie" (Amanda Seyfried) who has invited the three men to her wedding in the hope that she might find out which of them might be her father. If you don't like ABBA ...