2008 Blockbuster 12 "Mamma Mia!"

Cheesiest Film of the Decade! And I still liked it!

I went into this movie with no knowledge of the stage musical on which it was based, nor of the ABBA songs on which that was based. My only information was what came from the trailer. That, coupled with my desire to see James Bond, Fitzwilliam Darcy and Bootstrap Bill Turner singing and dancing, ensured that I'd see this.

The premise is stage-musical-doofy. A young bride-to-be (Amanda Seyfried, playing the 20-year-old Sophie like she's sixteen) wants to know who her father is. After reading her mother's diary, she narrows it down to three possible men, all of whom she invites to the wedding. When the mystified men arrive, not having seen Sophie's mother (played without the slightest bit of restraint by Meryl Streep), hijinks ensue, as you would expect.

Even for a movie musical, there's alot of music. It seemed like five minutes wouldn't go by before the soundtrack switched over and you knew you weren't listening to the actors on the set, but the actors in a sound booth somewhere, rocking out. None of these people are known for their pipes, but they do varying degrees of okay. In fact, I would have been annoyed if some of them were really great, and others sucked. Since they're all mediocre, it tends to work. Brosnan in particular seems not ready for a stint on Broadway, but since he's such a good actor, I can buy the performance as a whole.

I really did enjoy all the performances, particularly Seyfried and Streep. I should also mention Streep's cohorts, old friends visiting for the wedding: Julie Walters and Christine Baranksi. When those three are on screen together, you can tell they're having fun. Some of the stuff seemed spontaneous and unscripted, which is a special treat in any movie.

If you like movie musicals (or ABBA in general) I can recommend this as a sweet lark of a movie. If you don't... avoid this like the plague. Really.