Express Mortgages Express Loans Bingo Lose Weight Franchising Dating Shopping Book Shop Find Spare Parts Cut Your Bills Wine Shop Legal Store FlatShare Cruises

MAMMA MIA! ***

Pierce Brosnan and Meryl Streep belt it out karaoke style

Sunday July 13,2008

By Allan Hunter

MAMMA MIA! may be the world’s first Saga karaoke musical. A collection of veteran stars – none of them renowned for their singing prowess – squeeze into their party frocks, throw on a dollop of slap, step into the spotlight and perform their unique versions of Abba classics.

It’s almost like Stars In Their Eyes with a bigger budget and real stars. It is a film that veers between toe-curling embarrassment and feelgood escapism. Approached with a glass of chardonnay in one hand and surrounded by an audience of hen parties, you might just enjoy it.

Mamma Mia! has been a global phenomenon and, just like the stage musical, the biggest star in the screen version is those old familiar Abba songs. There are ballads to break your heart and infectious favourites. We should all say a big thank you for the music.

Director Phyllida Lloyd’s approach is to treat it as a party. If you can’t relax and have fun, then you are just a big killjoy. As a critic, you want to mention the lumbering direction and the miscasting but you soon recognise this is not a film for critics but a reward for all those loyal Abba fans in search of a great night out. It is going to take an absolute fortune.

Set on the sun-kissed Greek island of Kalokairi, the plot
has the playfulness of a Shakespearean comedy. The gorgeous Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is about to marry the equally scrumptious Sky (Dominic Cooper). The only thing missing is a loving father to give her away. Her mother Donna (Meryl Streep) has never said who her father is, mostly because she doesn’t know.

Reading her mother’s diaries from 20 years ago reveals three possible candidates, so Sophie decides to invite them all: Adventurer Bill (Stellan Skarsgard), uptight English banker Harry (Colin Firth) and dashing businessman Sam (Pierce Brosnan).

Donna now runs a hotel on the island but as a nod to her past as a singer, she invites best friends and former backing vocalists from Donna And The Dynamos, Rosie (Julie Walters) and Tanya (Christine Baranski).

All the characters are now assembled for a hectic romp of romance, regret, tearful reunions and happy endings. The plot of Mamma Mia! is no worse than countless musical classics from Brigadoon onwards and it is told with a breathless enthusiasm. The location is stunning, every scene is a big-production number and resistance to its brash charm is clearly futile. Of course it’s cheesy at times but you would expect nothing less.

The cast are all incredibly game, with Walters providing peerless comic relief as the irrepressible Rosie and Brosnan giving it his all, despite the fact that he is clearly not a natural-born singer. The real revelation is Streep. She can sing and has all the energy of a teenager as she dances, runs, leaps and cavorts. The bonus is that she brings a true acting instinct to the songs, so they have an emotional conviction that takes the picture to a different level. She is the film’s Super Trouper.

Would it be ridiculous to think she could earn another Oscar nomination for Mamma Mia!?

A final word of advice – don’t make a hasty exit from the cinema as you might miss two Lycra-clad encores that have
to be seen to be believed.

(Cert PG; 98 mins)