There’s not a better trio of respective dads than the likes of Stellan Skaarsgard, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth, all of whom are quite entertaining in their hapless roles as men pulled in to a wedding of a girl that may be their long lost daughter. Probably the stand out is Pierce Brosnan who presents a great chemistry off of Meryl Streep as Sam, the man pushed away after a brief fling. These three are never afraid to get goofy in their performances and can handle the singing quite well when they need to. Amanda Seyfried is given a big responsibility to carry the role of Sophie, an idyllic dreamer who hopes to find her father bringing the entire scenario together and shines vocally and charismatically as this young girl who uses her wit to bring together this group of people to bring closure to her biggest question. Seyfried handles the role well and she’s a thrill to watch.
How sick is it that I’ve been actually interested in watching “Mamma Mia!”? Perhaps it’s because of my general love for musicals, perhaps it’s thanks to the lovely Amanda Seyfried, or maybe it’s because I just like the cast. But for a movie that’s based on a musical I’ve never seen inspired by a band I kind of like who sing music that’s only okay, “Mamma Mia!” has been a source of great interest since January. Don’t ask why. Maybe that’s just the continued power of ABBA whose music is cheesy and clunky but still manages sneak in to your brain and rest there until you’re willing to admit that they’re not so bad, after all.
It was only a matter of time until “Mamma Mia!” was turned in to a movie, due to its success on Broadway, but the range of musicals of late has not been the most inspiring; particularly the mainstream outputs as we’ve seen the genre from mediocre (“Dreamgirls”) to plain abysmal (“RENT”) with the best of the best being released right under our radar (“Once”). I think there will be a specific audience to which “Mamma Mia!” will appeal to, and sadly I doubt I’m a part of that audience. I approached the adaptation of the musical with sheer optimism and found that “Mamma Mia!” is often too hokey to really involve myself with. Fans of the Broadway musical may find an easy accessibility, but general audiences may not find much here in the way of entertainment.
Director Phyllida Lloyd‘s vision of the musical is often very corny relying on flashbacks and cheesy sight gags that are utter misses with no real clarification on whether the intent is to inspire laughter, or eye rolls. This musical may definitely inspire an eye roll or two as the scenes of instant singing are rather awkward to watch, particularly when Meryl Streep tries her damndest to pull off her vocalization. Streep could never really convince me she was this character, and sly wit and enthusiasm didn’t particularly win me over to the personality of this ex-hippie. One of these men has to be Sophie’s father, so why don’t I care? While it’s seemingly destined to grab some cash from hardcore fans of the stage version, folks like me will be left out of the cold with a dramatic tension that’s never quite urgent as the premise lets on.
And right when we get to the big reveal as to which of the three sperm donors are her father, we’re literally left in the cold with many questions raised that are ignored undermining the entire premise and the reason why we came to watch, which the story tries to conceal by staging a big confession scene in front of an audience that seems ripped from the laziest wedding romances we’ve seen over and over again. Chalk up another mediocre movie musical to the gallery. The cast are an utter highlight, but as I tried my best to arouse optimism and interest, “Mamma Mia!” never rose to the occasion in being more than clunky mediocre and maudlin musical fodder with a sitcomish storyline and strained performances by the leads.