I can see how Mamma Mia! might be a fun stage musical. As a movie musical, it's a train wreck.
Mamma Mia! (2008)
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Reviews Counted:169
Fresh:90
Rotten:79
Average Rating:5.5/10
Consensus: This jukebox musical is full of fluffy fun but rough singing voices and a campy tone might not make you feel like "You Can Dance" the whole 90 minutes.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for some sex-related comments.
Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins
Genre: Musical & Performing Arts
Theatrical Release:Jul 18, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $143,704,210
Synopsis: After its run as a West End hit in London, MAMMA MIA became a Broadway smash when it opened in New York back in 2001. With a story framed around the music of the Swedish pop band Abba, crowds loved... After its run as a West End hit in London, MAMMA MIA became a Broadway smash when it opened in New York back in 2001. With a story framed around the music of the Swedish pop band Abba, crowds loved its raucous, dance party vibe. Now it comes to the silver screen, with some truly delightful performances from the likes of Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan. It is the story of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) a young woman living on a picturesque Greek island with her mother, Donna (Streep.) Together, Donna and Sophie run a ramshackle island inn, and they are in the midst of preparing for Sophie's wedding. As the wedding approaches, Sophie becomes troubled by the fact that she has never known her father. She was the result of one of her mother's summer flings, and her mother has never revealed her father's identity. When Sophie stumbles upon her mother's diary, she learns that there are three possible men who could be her dad. Without telling her mother, she invites all three to her wedding. When Harry (Colin Firth), Sam (Brosnan), and Bill (Stellan Skarsgard) all arrive at the same time, Donna is of course shocked and overwhelmed by seeing her old lovers again after such a long time. She turns to her two best friends, Tanya (Christine Baranaki) and Rosie (Julia Walters), for their support, and vows to just get through the wedding and weekend. Meanwhile, Sophie spends time with each man, determined to learn the truth. Major hijinks and confusion ensues, all amidst the utterly romance scenery, and the rather irresistible, swelling love ballads. Streep has a lovely singing voice, and to watch her throw herself into this whimsical role is truly a delight. She looks like she is having a ball, and it is hard not to shimmy along with her. Baranski reliably delivers an over-the-top showstopper, and Brosnan's tender singing voice makes his character all the more touching. The film strives to be a jubilant celebration of mother/daughter relationships and the love between good friends, and no matter how cheesy some may find Abba, it is hard to resist its many charms. [More]
Starring: Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried
Starring: Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried, Stellan Skarsgard, Julie Walters, Dominic Cooper, Christine Baranski
Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Screenwriter: Catherine Johnson
Producer: Judy Craymer, Gary Goetzman
Composer: Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus
Studio: Universal Pictures
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Reviews for Mamma Mia!
Even minor elements like sound editing and makeup are botched, a sure sign of carelessness, or cluelessness. Early scenes show characters forgetting to lipsynch to their prerecorded songs.
A fun, crowd-pleasing alternative for an audience whose idea of entertainment runs more to infectious '70s pop ditties, spandex, sex-starved women of a certain age and bare-chested hunks than watching a caped sadist torturing criminals.
The costumes look cheap, the choreography is clunky, and the cinematography's terrible - a real shame, given the gorgeous setting.
It's a one-of-a-kind cinematic wreck: I couldn't wait for it to end, and yet I'm strangely longing to see it again.
Streep, Waters and Baranski basically ad-lib and keep just enough composure to pull through.
he sheer exuberance of the production overcomes its difficulties, and the incongruous mix of nostalgia, James Bond crooning and the world's greatest actress bouncing up and down on a mattress is an undeniable kick. Mamma Mia! is major fun.
Feels like a souvenir program: something to revive the feelings you had watching the stage performance.
The year's most aggressive chick flick, with a score of irresistibly catchy ABBA tunes sweetening the dumb story like peaches in cottage cheese.
Reality in a musical? That alone makes it worth your open-eared attention.
As my dignity tried to flee the premises, my heart wouldn't let me go.
A party where everyone is so desperate to have a good time that it makes you miserable.
Meryl Streep scampers and writhes with something like abandon in her tomboyish overalls, her glowing tan and perfectly arranged "wild" blond hair indicating Donna's stanch independence.
Taken for what it is -- a fluffy, intergenerational farce as a frame for some seventies musical nostalgia -- Mamma Mia! just gets away with it.
Hugely enjoyable musical with gorgeous location work, terrific songs and superb performances from a fabulous cast.
Everything's in twinkle overdrive. As with most stage-to-screen transfers, about a half-hour of material has been excised, and Mamma Mia! never had that much story to begin with.
There are the wall-to-wall songs by ABBA, if you like that sort of thing. I don't, not much.
What happened to James Bond?? I honestly wanted to be a "Dancing Queen" and dance right out of the theatre. Mamma Mia! is one of the most awkward, poorly acted and just laughably bad musicals to date.
[N]one of the nonsensicalness would matter if the movie would let me get caught up in it, but that hardly happened, much as I wished it would...
Perhaps your enjoyment will depend on how much you like the songs (I’m not a huge ABBA fan), but the great thing about this film is its joyousness.
Latest News for Mamma Mia!
February 04, 2009:
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Every year, the BAFTA film awards present a trophy for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema. Introduced in 1978, the award recognises an organisation or a person's career... More...
January 21, 2009:
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January 07, 2009:
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The 35th annual People's Choice Awards were handed out on January 7, 2009. A complete list of film nominees, with winners in bold, follows below. More...
December 28, 2008:
There's a neat free spirit versus family values message here, about a dad being no big deal when you can have three. Not to mention that family is more about who loves you, than whatever does or doesn't dangle between their legs. ![]()
More...
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