Morgan BellREVIEW: Mamma Mia!
August 23rd 2008 07:35
Directed: Phyllida Lloyd
Written: Catherine Johnson
Starring: Maryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Julie Walters, Christine Baranski, Amanda Seyfried, Dominic Cooper
This film makes you want to take a summer holiday off the coast of Greece and sing your way around the islands . . . possibly with Pierce Brosnan . . . definately with a cocktail and the breeze in your hair!
The key to Mamma Mia is location, location, location. The idyllic paradise location eats up the screen and washes you with a sense of tranquility. Mamma Mia was filmed on a series of small Greek islands, including Skopelos and Skiathos, and the seaside hamlet of Damouchari in the Pelion area of Greece. The films main location site was Kastani bay, at Skopelos. Apparently the producers built a beach bar and jetty along the tiny west-coast bay, but removed them both when they left.
The basic story is that a young woman, Sophie (Seyfried) is due to wed her boyfirend Sky (Cooper) and uses the event as an opportunity to figure out who her father is. Around the time of her conception her mother Donna (Streep) was seeing three different men, Sam (Brosnan), Harry (Firth) and Bill (Skarsgård). Sophie invites all three men to the wedding without telling her mother or telling the men why they are there. Calamity and singing ensues!
This film is a "jukebox musical" with singing of the pop hits of ABBA solidly throughout. It is an adaptation of the stage musical of the same name and translates to being a funny and warm comedy on the screen. There is a huge cast and supporting chorus which gives a festival feel. Streep and Brosnan are delightful together and bring a self-awareness to the singing. The storyline has a classical symmetry to it whereby all of the plot points raised are tied off neatly by the end and all the characters are paired up happily.
Mamma Mia contains the following ABBA songs:
"I Have a Dream"
"Honey, Honey"
"Money, Money, Money"
"Mamma Mia"
"Chiquitita"
"Dancing Queen"
"Our Last Summer"
"Lay All Your Love on Me"
"Super Trouper"
"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!"
"The Name of the Game"
"Voulez-Vous"
"SOS"
"Does Your Mother Know"
"Slipping Through My Fingers"
"The Winner Takes It All"
"I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do"
"When All is Said and Done"
"Take a Chance on Me"
"Mamma Mia" (Reprise)
"I Have a Dream"
"Dancing Queen" (end credits)
"Waterloo" (end credits)
"Thank You for the Music" (end credits)
Written: Catherine Johnson
Starring: Maryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Julie Walters, Christine Baranski, Amanda Seyfried, Dominic Cooper
This film makes you want to take a summer holiday off the coast of Greece and sing your way around the islands . . . possibly with Pierce Brosnan . . . definately with a cocktail and the breeze in your hair!
The key to Mamma Mia is location, location, location. The idyllic paradise location eats up the screen and washes you with a sense of tranquility. Mamma Mia was filmed on a series of small Greek islands, including Skopelos and Skiathos, and the seaside hamlet of Damouchari in the Pelion area of Greece. The films main location site was Kastani bay, at Skopelos. Apparently the producers built a beach bar and jetty along the tiny west-coast bay, but removed them both when they left.
The basic story is that a young woman, Sophie (Seyfried) is due to wed her boyfirend Sky (Cooper) and uses the event as an opportunity to figure out who her father is. Around the time of her conception her mother Donna (Streep) was seeing three different men, Sam (Brosnan), Harry (Firth) and Bill (Skarsgård). Sophie invites all three men to the wedding without telling her mother or telling the men why they are there. Calamity and singing ensues!
This film is a "jukebox musical" with singing of the pop hits of ABBA solidly throughout. It is an adaptation of the stage musical of the same name and translates to being a funny and warm comedy on the screen. There is a huge cast and supporting chorus which gives a festival feel. Streep and Brosnan are delightful together and bring a self-awareness to the singing. The storyline has a classical symmetry to it whereby all of the plot points raised are tied off neatly by the end and all the characters are paired up happily.
Mamma Mia contains the following ABBA songs:
"I Have a Dream"
"Honey, Honey"
"Money, Money, Money"
"Mamma Mia"
"Chiquitita"
"Dancing Queen"
"Our Last Summer"
"Lay All Your Love on Me"
"Super Trouper"
"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!"
"The Name of the Game"
"Voulez-Vous"
"SOS"
"Does Your Mother Know"
"Slipping Through My Fingers"
"The Winner Takes It All"
"I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do"
"When All is Said and Done"
"Take a Chance on Me"
"Mamma Mia" (Reprise)
"I Have a Dream"
"Dancing Queen" (end credits)
"Waterloo" (end credits)
"Thank You for the Music" (end credits)
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Comment by Cheryl J
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Great review though
Comment by RubySoho
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What becomes of the other two? Do they end up together?
Comment by Cheryl J
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Ruby, it's Darth Vader.
Comment by Morgan Bell
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i think i really out-gayed myself with how much i enjoyed it, i went to see it with a diehard fan of musical theatre and he thought there was too much singing and the cast was too large . . . beyond a certain point it just made it funnier for me, the more people that were conversing in song the more i was lapping it up!
similar soundtrack to Muriels Wedding but with the humour of seeing Pierce Brosnan singing it! haha
i think you would have to be in the mood (a jolly mood!) and be at least a bit of a fan of ABBA
Comment by Morgan Bell
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i cant tell you that!
but Meryl has her two female friends (Walters and Baranski) on the island so theres three older women and three older men plus a whole host of cabana boys and bikini girls who make up the chorus . . . the is one homosexual match-up and one may-december flirtation . . . its practically shakespearian!
Comment by Joanne Fedler
Secret Writers Business
I must be the only person who thought this movie was the most embarassing hour and a half I have sat through in a long time - and I adore Meryl Streep and Colin Firth and ABBA. I don't know what I am not getting here, but I really found it excruciating. I couldn't wait to see it, given the rave reviews and the hype, but it was like watching my grandmother pose for a centrefold of Hustler magazine - I couldn't watch it.
Is there anyone else who felt the same way?
Jo
Comment by Morgan Bell
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i think you could probably put it down to absurd humour, such respected actors singing regardless of any particular musical talent - it tickled my funny bone!
and this massive chorus just keeps coming out of nowhere and singing along, it gets bigger and bigger, the scale is funny in itself!
i think its almost a new genre of "bizarre comedy"
theres a scene as everyone is walking up the hill to the wedding ceremony and Pierce Brosnan asks Meryl a question and she responds by singing "The Winner Takes It All" in its entirity . . . it doesnt make any sense! she doesnt even anser his question! haha
and he is left standing there until she finishes the ballad . . . very awkward, very self-aware, very funny!
Comment by postmoderncritic
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You're just so predictable / In every way, I / want you to know / I know your game...
*Ahem*
Not even Pierce Brosnan and the cute female protagonist could maintain my interest...
Joanne, that's a great way to put it, Meryl and her friends flinging themselves around the hotel was decidedly lacking in sexiness... And the whole thing was just so sappy and formulaic. Argh!
Comment by Morgan Bell
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wow you walked out!
i would have thought this was the kind of positive vibes you would be right into!
it definately wasnt a "sexy" film, nothing gratuitous or suggestive, it was quite classical in alot of regards
Comment by Jeff Musall
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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oh im glad you liked it! (the review and the film
it seems like a good movie for date night!
thanks for the comment!
Comment by Cibbuano
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can we stop playing 'Dancing Queen' though?
Comment by Morgan Bell
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ABBA songs are so uplifting!
i thought Gimme, Gimme, Gimme was used really effectively ( a song which i recognise only due to Madonna sampling it lol)
Comment by Jeff Musall
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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youre such a romantic!
Comment by postmoderncritic
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One of my favourite ABBA songs to sing at karaoke, Jeff!
I agree with Cibby though, Dancing Queen is way overplayed...
And I loved Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man After Midnight) long before Madonna sampled it, it's just fABBAulous!