Mamma Mia!

I guess someone forgot that musicals are supposed to be entertaining.

In the summer of 2005, I was in New York for a few days with my family and was fortunate enough to see Mamma Mia! the musical. It's actually the only Broadway musical I've ever seen (not because they don't interest me, but because the opportunity doesn't exactly come along too frequently). It was incredibly fun - the mixture of ABBA's contagious songs and the energetic cast made for an extremely worthwhile experience. I figured it was inevitable that a movie would be made about it. I also thought it was inevitable that a film adaptation of the musical would at least come close to being as enjoyable as the actual musical, because, I mean, come on, you can't go wrong with those awesome ABBA songs and a beautiful Greek island as your setting. Well, apparently, you can.

This film is an insult to the musical it is based on and to the tunes of ABBA. It is one of the worst musicals I've seen in a very long time. There isn't a single musical number with any pizzazz or energy to speak of, the dance sequences are entirely lame, and the placement of songs in particular moments is often completely wrong not only in terms of plot coherence, but also in terms of the failure to build up to having the better songs at the end. "Dancing Queen" is a wonderful song with all the potential in the world to make for a great musical number, and it's hard to even begin to describe the mediocrity with which it is handled here. The RT consensus has this just right: you definitely won't feel like "you can dance." And that's a big shame.

The charisma of Amanda Seyfried and Meryl Streep as lead characters Sophie and Donna does very little to keep this from being utterly bad, especially because they are stuck with a severely poor supporting cast. One very significant comparative note I have to make is that, in the stage musical, Donna's friends Rosie and Tanya were extremely awesome and funny characters and the actresses playing them were hugely cheered for at the end; in the film, these characters are massacred by Julie Walters and Christine Baranski, bringing no humor whatsoever to the proceedings, and with the former in particular being severely annoying. The three actors playing the men who are the possible candidates for being Sophie's father (Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan and Stellan Skarsgard) are not only equally as bad, but give what I can describe as nothing other than terrible singing performances.

Since the film covers all 12 ABBA tracks, it doesn't have much time for plot development, which should be fine, as long as the half hour or so of plot development is handled skillfully, which is far from the case in this film. The only scene that rings true in terms of dramatic effect is the sort-of turning point conversation between Sophie and her fiance Sky (Dominic Cooper) when they each discover that they'd both probably prefer to just travel instead of getting married, seeing as they're so young. But the scene is too short to have much of a positive impact. I mentioned that Seyfried and Streep's charisma is helpful in keeping this from being a painful experience, but their work is absolutely nothing special, and the moment in which I felt most strongly about this is when Sophie asks her mother if she will give her away at the wedding. When watching the stage musical, this was a hugely emotional moment felt by the entire audience and it seemed to bring about a sense that we were nearing the climax of this incredibly fun and satisfying story. However, in the film, it is rushed, awkward and completely unconvincing.

To make matters even worse, the cinematographers here take absolutely NO advantage of the scenery of the Greek island. Sure, it's fine that the movie doesn't have enough time for plot development, but it's NOT fine that it can't provide great vistas as the background to these musical numbers. Considering the cheerfulness of ABBA's songs, it would fit perfectly, yet it's not employed here at all. The camera focus is often completely off, and the outdoor scenes are illuminated by sunlight that couldn't look more fake, so the attempt to have brightness add spice to the proceedings falls totally flat.

As far as purely fun musicals are concerned, last year's Hairspray is a very good example of above-average fare, largely because it featured a final musical number that will get even the most boring and dry person to want to get up and dance. Mamma Mia! is, well, waaaaay below the average. The rolling, fiery ball of energy that the makers of Hairspray created during the film's final sequence with "You Can't Stop The Beat" is something that the makers of Mamma Mia! don't even come close to doing with ANY of the musical numbers, which is a travesty, considering how good most of ABBA's songs are. They say that the only way you'll like this movie is if you actually like their songs; well, I like their songs, and I detested this film, so while that theory should be right, it doesn't seem like it is. This is just wasted potential.

3/10