Last week, I saw Mamma Mia! on the big screen.
Were I to judge the movie by its component parts, I would give this one low ratings, very low. The choreography is both campy and cheesy. Pierce Brosnan, while he looks fine on screen, can’t carry a tune. There’s no chemistry between the young lovers, Dominic Cooper and Amanda Seyfried. The former would be more believable if he were telling his on-screen fiancée that while she was his best friend, he just met a boy . . . .
I mean, who was it who decided not to have someone else sing Brosnan’s part? Marni Nixon sang for Natalie Wood (West Side Story), Audrey Hepburn (My Fair Lady) and Deborah Kerr (The King and I). At least Wood and Hepburn had more passable singing voices than does the one-time James Bond. (I don’t know much about Kerr’s singing abilities, but have heard the other two sing; neither voice grates as much as did that of this male movie star).
All that said, I can’t get the movie out of my head and want to see it again. It was, simply put, a lot of fun. Meryl Streep was amazing as Donna, the lead, convincing both as a mother and as a one-time somewhat “loose” woman finding herself, all of a sudden, in some unusual and tense situations. She was, as always, a delight to watch. It looked like she had a lot of fun making the movie as I did watching it. (I read she really enjoyed the Broadway show and was thrilled be cast in the film.)
While Christine Baranski was not nearly as good as she was (in a much smaller role) in Birdcage, Julie Walters made up for her on-screen friend’s lackluster performance. And Colin Firth was, as always, convincing and compelling, particularly with that little twist at the end which, I hear, was added in for the film. 🙂
And the music. It reminded how pleasant good ol’ classic pop music can be. The songs were just fun to listen to. I get why Abba inspired the band Erasure and the movieThe Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. Makes me want to watch that Australian flick again.
I did stop at Virgin to buy Abba Gold, the CD containing most of the film’s songs — as well as a few other Abba classics. Great to listen to when driving around LA on a hot day.
And then there were the costumes. When you see it, make sure to stay until the very end to see the concluding numbers.
I guess all this goes to show is that even with as many flaws as this flick, we can still enjoy it. It just needs to entertain us. And Mamma Mia! succeeded. Odd though some of the directing and choreography may have been, it was a lot of fun. I want to see this movie again.
UPDATE from Bruce (GP): I mostly agree with Dan’s review (having also seen it last weekend). But as a veteran watcher of Mamma Mia! on stage — the movie sticks pretty much to the London/Broadway version in all of its aspects.Â
For one thing, Skye and Sophie aren’t the main relationship action in the story — frankly he is just there (in the film and on the stage) for he and his hunky friends to provide the audience with shirtless eye candy. The most compelling relationship dynamic (again, in both versions) for me is Donna and Sophie; Sophie and her Dad(s); and Donna and Sam. Interestingly enough all of the “Sams” (including Brosnan) that I’ve seen perform the role have had singing voices that leave a lot to be desired.Â
Finally, the music is great — seeing the stage versions made me go out and buy ABBA Gold, too! And, Amanda Seyfried (Sophie) has by far the best singing voice in the movie (IMHO).  I’d see it again too… but Batman is now at the top of the list!
I would have to agree with you. I saw Mamma Mia last weekend with a friend. We loved the movie, it was really fun, but it was almost ruined for us by Brosnan’s singing. I was trying to re-cast his part in my head. All I kept thinking was, I wish Hugh Jackman was a little older (he can actually sing).
Saw Mamma Mia with my partner, the crowd actually nervously giggled when Pierce sang his parts. After his fourth or fifth attempt people were wondering aloud what the producers were thinking when they allowed him to do his own singing. It was a fun movie, most of the crowd was ‘family” as it was in Ft Lauderdale.
Miss Deborah Kerr (1921-1987) had a beautiful singing voice, but she had a challenge hitting some of the more difficult (high) notes.
Miss Marni Nixon, as we all know, had no problems at all.
Interesting note: Miss Nixon also dubbed for Miss Kerr in An Affair To Remember, the chick flick by which all others are judged.
“Darling, don’t look at me like that.”
Also, speaking of on-screen dubbing, it was Lena Horne who dubbed Ava Gardner’s singing in “Showboat.”
Regards,
Peter H.
I saw Mamma Mia on July 29. Meryl Streep looked like she was having a ball being in this movie. It was refreshing to see her let her hair down & have fun.
Pierce Brosnan is an OK singer. Not good enough to pin one’s Grammy hopes on, but passable if barely.
If you looked closely, the 2 guys from ABBA made cameo appearances. Benny Andersson was seen tickling the ivories during the “Dancing Queen” sequence & Bjorn Ulvaeus was one of the angels at the closing credits.
Why did you buy ABBA Gold? There is a more thorough ABBA compilation out there: The Definitive Collection. It has all of ABBA’s charting songs, & you get the full version of “The Name of the Game” (not the truncated version that appears on “Gold”).
Actually, Deborah Kerr died last year.
Unlike a lot of people, dubbing of bad singing bothers me less in a movie, where all musicals used to have people lip-synching to recordings (as in the musical’s heyday, it was more practical) than it would on a live stage. Bad singing you can do something about. Bad acting, unfortunately, not so much.
They’d never do it anymore, because they would have to be credited (although they could credit it as ADR), and just try keeping that a secret.
These reviews of Mamma Mia remind me of a story I heard about a restaurant in Hong Kong that served lousy food but was always packed. They put some derivative of opium in it.
My partner and I saw the movie with a fairly large crowd (surprised us), which applauded at the end of the movie with a great deal of enthusiasm. Although campy at times, is there anything Meryl can’t do? Looking back, I can’t wait to see it again and again, camp or no camp.