Mamma Mia! (2008)
Mamma Mia!, based on the Abba musical, is not perfect, but it’s enough fun that I didn’t much care. Meryl Streep is Donna, who has raised her daughter by herself on a beautiful Greek island, in a falling-down hotel. The daughter, Sophie, (Amanda Seyfried, Lilly from Veronica Mars) is getting married, and, unbeknownst to Donna, has invited three of her mother’s old boyfriends, one of whom is her biological father. Whoever cast Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd and Colin Firth knew what they were doing. These actors, along with Christine Baranski and Julie Walters as Donna’s friends, steal the show, and seem to have a fine time doing so. The kids are mostly an afterthought. The familiar songs, the enthusiastic renditions of them, and the engaging cast all made this enjoyable. The directing wasn’t strong, with too many cuts, some voices were better than others, and SkarsgÃ¥rd looked oddly grim much of the time, but the overall effect was joyful and fun. It’s a sweet romance for grownups, not teenagers, for a change. According to IMDB, Streep is the oldest of the adults, at 59, then Walters 58, SkarsgÃ¥rd 57, Brosnan 55, Baranski 52, and Firth, the baby of the bunch, 48.
Side note: I took an immediate dislike to Sophie’s betrothed, Sky, and didn’t remember where I’d seen him before. Once I looked him up, I knew why he’d bothered me; he played the oily, dishonest Willoughby in the recent PBS production of Sense and Sensibility.
September 8th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
I have to say that, while I enjoyed Mamma Mia, I was so terribly irritated about the ages of the actors. Sophie’s mom is supposed to be in her late 30s, maybe early 40s. Why did they cast such oldies? I can’t figure it out.