MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

Mamma Mia!.  Rated PG-13

Directed by Phyllida Lloyd.  Starring Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried.

Photo © Universal Pictures
Movie Review by Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

When I was younger, back in seminary school, some of us would get together in a dorm room, pick up hair brushes as microphones and sing along with Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “Midnight Train to Georgia”.  We were mostly just entertaining ourselves for a few minutes and enjoying the pleasure of a well-written and produced record.  The Swedish super-group ABBA knew how to write songs with catchy hooks and wall-of-sound production values, and they had a couple dozen hits in the 1970s.  Mamma Mia! the 1999 stage musical, had a paper-thin, contrived plot that served as an excuse to use two dozen songs in non-stop fashion.  This film version (with the director of the Broadway play at the helm) also tells the story of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), the 20-year-old daughter of Donna (Streep), who is about to marry a local boy on the Greek isle in which her mother runs a rundown but jovial villa.  Sophie stumbles upon her mother’s diary a few weeks before her wedding day.  Flipping through the pages, she reads the daily entries that coincide with the time of Donna’s conception.  There are three men who could possibly be Sophie’s biological father and, on a whim, Donna sends them letters inviting them to the wedding.  And -- could you believe it? – all three guys (Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard, and Colin Firth) show up!  And, on top of that, Donna has two kooky gal pals come to the festivities, as well.  Who is Sophie’s father?  And who is planning the wedding and why isn’t there a rehearsal?  Who cares?  I didn’t!  All I saw on screen were some wonderful actors who were allowed to let their hair down, pick up the hair brushes, and sing and dance their hearts out.  Meryl Streep is big and brassy as Donna and everyone else comes to the party, as well.  Pierce Brosnan’s singing voice is pretty awful, but he sings with such gusto, it’s obvious that he knows his limits, and bellows out, nevertheless.  I really enjoyed this film for its combination of beautiful Greek vistas, catchy songs and goofy dancing.  Mamma Mia! won me over for a couple of hours and put a smile on my face as I left the theater, leaving on that midnight train to Georgia. 

Pitchfork Rating: Three halos. (Gleeful and goofy in every way, this is a good-natured film that simply invites you to sing and dance and celebrate life for a couple of hours.)   Three pitchforks. (Gleeful abandonment of responsibility and engagement with reality, including a light-hearted approach to all things sexual, including promiscuity, marriage, and same-sex relationships.)

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