REVIEW
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 Mamma Mia!
2008
Certificate: PG | Runtime: 108 | Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan
 
Sophie (Seyfried) is a bright and bubbly 20-year-old, who is about to get married to Sky (Dominic Cooper), the man of her dreams. However, unlike most girls, her father isn't around to walk her down the aisle. It's not that anything bad has happened; she just doesn't know who he is, and nor does her mother Donna (Streep). Sophie decides the only way to find out is to invite all three to the wedding and try to work out which one is the most similar to her. So Sam (Brosnan), Bill (Stellan Skarsgard) and Harry (Colin Firth) are all invited, but the fact that Sophie invited them is kept secret from Donna.
I am now convinced that Meryl Streep can do just about anything. In a career which has seen countless awards, she has done dramas and comedies, and has worked in a wide variety of other genres. But I didn't know she could sing. Moreover, she seems to be having an absolute blast! And this is ultimately what makes Mamma Mia! worthwhile viewing. It has problems, and relatively significant ones at that, but with its timelessly catchy songs and a cast who are clearly having a whale of a time, it's very easy to get caught up in the film's enormous sense of fun. It's like when an ABBA song plays at a wedding; you'll try to ignore it, pretend you don't like it, but then start dancing with everyone else because it feels rotten to be left out.
In some respects, the film is little more than a showcase for ABBA songs. The plot is paper thin, and has had to be crowbarred around the songs in order for their inclusion to make sense. I'm no ABBA expert by any stretch of the imagination, but even I could see when the film was building up to certain musical numbers because the dialogue and the mood would suddenly start to lay slightly forced foundations for them. Musicals often have slightly simpler plots than other types of film, but in Mamma Mia! this is an issue which really stands out.
And when it comes to the musical numbers some are a lot better staged than others. It's not until you watch a musical that's badly directed that you can really see how difficult a task it actually is, and Lloyd have little understanding of what she's doing. Some of the numbers lack energy, while others are shot in utterly bizarre ways, complete with twirling cameras and loads of slow motion. Faffing around with the camera and shooting from odd angles does not make a scene interesting in its own right.
Thankfully, the film has a really good cast at its disposal. The aforementioned Streep surprised me, not just with her voice, but also with the sheer youthful exuberance she displays. Seyfried is a bubbly presence and a real cutie (she can sing, too), while Julie Walters (complete with accent of indeterminate origin) and Christine Baranski play Donna's old friends with a real sense of vigour; or ham, depending on which way you want to look at it. I also think Baranski has the best voice in the film, so it's a shame she only really gets one (admittedly barnstorming) number to herself. Even the gents fare pretty well. Skarsgard actually doesn't have to sing at all, but his easy-going performance is quite a lot of fun. Brosnan gives it his all, but his singing voice just isn't up to much. It's therefore a little surprising that he's given quite a few songs to struggle through. It's not an unpleasant voice as such, but it sounds like someone who can't really sing desperately trying to do so. And Firth is great; not only is he extremely funny in places, he also has an very pleasant singing voice. However, he rarely gets to use it, which is a pity.
It is certainly possible to argue that the film's attitude comes directly from the songs it features, and I think that is ultimately why it remains bright, breezy and almost infectious. Whether you particularly like them or not, ABBA songs are generally enormous fun and have that habit of sticking in your head once you've heard them. And because everyone in the cast gets into the right frame of mind and doesn't take anything too seriously, the film works more than perhaps it had any right to.© David Mercier
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