I haven't seen the original Broadway show of
Mamma Mia! even though it's been out forever, but I've always known the music of ABBA so I was pretty intrigued to actually see how they put all those funky songs into some version of a cohesive story. And I was very pleasantly surprised. I think they did a terrific job taking a stage musical and removing the staging pretty well. Very few moments were flat or like they'd been presented from one view. In this respect, I thought
Mamma Mia was actually better than
Chicago. The story is very contrived to fit the music, but still isn't totally implausible. It's the story of a young girl (Amanda Seyfried) getting married on a Greek Island and wants to invite her father, but doesn't know which of 3 possible men it might be (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Stellan Skarsgard). They appear on the island and throw her mom
(Meryl Streep) into a tizzy. However, she has her 2 best friends (Julie Walters and Christine Baranski) to keep her cool. They used to be part of a hippy girl-group. Seyfried tries to figure out which one might be her dad, but you'll have to watch it to see which it is. There's lots of drama and lots of people bursting into song when they have an emotion to express, but if that doesn't scare you off, it's pretty terrific. But it's a light-hearted funny romp around a Greek Island and through Streep's checkered past. I liked it, 3.5 stars (or LAMBS) of 5. Oh, and Colin Firth is just terrific as always, funny and awkward all the time.
I haven't seen the original Broadway show of Mamma Mia! even though it's been out forever, but I've always known the music of ABBA so I was pretty intrigued to actually see how they put all those funky songs into some version of a cohesive story. And I was very pleasantly surprised. I think they did a terrific job taking a stage musical and removing the staging pretty well. Very few moments were flat or like they'd been presented from one view. In this respect, I thought Mamma Mia was actually better than Chicago. The story is very contrived to fit the music, but still isn't totally implausible. It's the story of a young girl (Amanda Seyfried) getting married on a Greek Island and wants to invite her father, but doesn't know which of 3 possible men it might be (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Stellan Skarsgard). They appear on the island and throw her mom
(Meryl Streep) into a tizzy. However, she has her 2 best friends (Julie Walters and Christine Baranski) to keep her cool. They used to be part of a hippy girl-group. Seyfried tries to figure out which one might be her dad, but you'll have to watch it to see which it is. There's lots of drama and lots of people bursting into song when they have an emotion to express, but if that doesn't scare you off, it's pretty terrific. But it's a light-hearted funny romp around a Greek Island and through Streep's checkered past. I liked it, 3.5 stars (or LAMBS) of 5. Oh, and Colin Firth is just terrific as always, funny and awkward all the time.
4 comments:
I saw this today, and I think I pretty much share your opinion.
We differ on our overall feelings of Mamma Mia!, but I totally agree with you about Colin Firth. He is just so adorable. His performance was one of two bright spots for me.
Wait - do tell how your opinions are different!
Fox - what was the other bright spot?
Colin Firth was indeed rather amusing in this movie ("I'm being spontaneous").
Not good enough to rank amoung my favorite musicals though.
That said, it DID make me want to book a flight to Greece! Oh, and I'd like to nominate Christine Baranski as Cougar of the Year.
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