A movie with Sean Penn in drag has to be good.
Posted on 07/20/2008 7:29:52 PM PDT by Dr. Scarpetta
God it must be fun to be Meryl Streep. She always seems to be having a blast. It’s certainly fun to watch her in “Mamma Mia!”
You don’t often get to see 50-something women be as randy and rowdy as the boys in “Superbad.” But that’s what Streep, Christine Baranski and Julie Walters do while they steal the film away from every young hot body on that Greek island.
And what an island. Sigh. If I lose my mind and get married I’ll head to that gorgeous church at the top of those winding stairs. What a magical place.
It’s a magical movie. Just as fun as a movie based on a musical based on ABBA songs involving a wedding with assorted misunderstandings set on a fairy tale Greek island should be. What a tragedy if it were a bore.
The main character is really Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), a bubbly little blonde set to be married in a few days, who finds and reads her mother’s diary then makes the questionable decision to invite three men to her wedding because one of them is her father.
She’s not sure which one and she doesn’t tell her fiancé, Sky who doesn’t even want to get married, or her mother, Donna (Streep), who doesn’t want the men around.
Sophie’s best pals show up to support her, but Rachel McDowall and Ashley Lilley, while lovely, can’t match the sheer glee of Baranski and Walters as Donna’s old friends and band buddies, Tanya and Rosie.
There are songs every few minutes and the best may be “Dancing Queen,” which prompts every woman on the island to drop what she’s doing to follow Donna as she dances through the streets. I wanted to get up and join in.
Streep has a nice voice (and even nicer lighting) and Seyfried, the strongest singer, has a sweet lilt to match the rest of her beauty.
The rest of the cast is spotty and sings more for function than talent. Pierce Brosnan, as Donna’s first love, Sam, has the most to do and he growls his way through it to mixed results. But he’s Pierce Brosnan, so … free pass!
Stellan Skarsgard and Colin Firth play Donna’s other two former beaus and potential fathers to Sophie. Skarsgard’s Bill is an adventurer who sails around the island. Firth’s Harry is a fussy banker.
I love that these respected dramatic actors aren’t above doing bright, shiny soufflés like this. Just the picture of Colin Firth taking off his shirt and flinging himself around with abandon to ABBA songs makes me love him more. (The end credits alone are worth the price of admission – I love the “Bill” belt.)
Most of “Mamma Mia!” is light and fluffy but it starts with Seyfried on a boat in the dark, singing “I Have a Dream” with something close to mournfulness.
Toward the end the movie also picks up some gravitas – which makes sense if we’re going to accept the idea of a woman who dated three men at the same time, got pregnant, had the child, then essentially never dated again, only to see the men at her daughter’s wedding 20 years later. Lots of unresolved emotions there.
At one point Street powers through “The Winner Takes It All” with all the feeling of an Oscar winner. She does a fabulous job but I prefer the foot-tapping moments like the mass dance to “Voulez Vous” the night before the wedding and Baranski flirting with a young bartender to “Does Your Mother Know?”
If I didn’t hate the word empowering I’d use it to describe this film’s treatment of women. It’s driven by ladies on screen and off - directed by theater director Phyllida Lloyd, written by Catherine Johnson and one of the chief producers is Judy Craymer.
It celebrates life – and sex - at all ages, never condescending to any of the characters but never taking them too seriously either.
This is the perfect counter-programming to “The Dark Knight.” Not that the audiences won’t overlap. Rarely does a week go by that I don’t listen to “ABBA Gold” and also wish I had a Batpod. It’s the best of both worlds.
But instead of a dark knight, "Mamma Mia!” has a bright princess in Amanda Seyfried and a true dancing queen in Meryl Streep.
You don’t have to be a die-hard ABBA fan to love this film, but it certainly helps. Take a chance on loving it!
Gina Carbone thinks “The Dark Knight” was even better the second time. She can be reached at gcarbone@seacoastonline.com.
Try a non vital organ and avoid the movie.
A movie with Sean Penn in drag has to be good.
I saw a photo of Helen over the weekend—in a bikini. She is one amazing woman.
I loved Colin Firth in “Pride and Prejudice”.
I'll just rent "Paint Your Wagon" again. ;)
He was better in ‘honky tonk man’ but Marty Robbins was backing him up
Sounds like you have a good marriage...
There were plenty of men in the movie when I saw it, and they appeared to be with their wives...:)
“However should you want to take your 55+ mother-in-law to a movie an see her laugh at inside jokes this is it. Not a bad thing but somebody made a 55+ chick flick.”
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“As ‘Mamma Mia’ Movie Opens, Fans Cross Age Groups”
“Thanks to fresh-faced actress Amanda Seyfried and the film’s fun feel, a new generation of fans has surfaced.
So don’t be surprised to see ladies in their teens and 20s sitting beside their fiftysomething former “Dancing Queen” moms at the cineplex. The movie has something for ‘Mamma’ maniacs of all ages.”
Treat yourself and take a woman to see it. She'll like you for it...:)
yes! Mr. Darcy... the BBC's Pride and Prejudice is the best... i also like him in, and this is a secret guilty pleasure of mine, Brigette Jones's Diary... he plays Mr. Darcy again! Marc Darcy, i believe...
>So don’t be surprised to see ladies in their teens and 20s sitting beside their fiftysomething former “Dancing Queen” moms at the cineplex. The movie has something for ‘Mamma’ maniacs of all ages.”<
I saw a lot of that in the theater the other night. Ok, the singing isn’t the best, but the movie is worth seeing, IF you’re female. Drop the men off at Dark Knight, so you have fun.
Colin Firth in anything would be ...grand. (sigh)
I cancelled a date and went to see this with my galfriends and it was GREAT! I was feeling SO not great until we saw this, We clapped, we sang and we danced in our chairs. It lifted my spirits WAY up.
We’re going again when it gets to the dollar movie and get all our friends to come with us and we’re going to have a blast.
Sounds like it was a great time.
I can use a pick me up myself so thanks for the heads-up on a worthwhile movie to see. They are rare indeed!
We saw the stage play in 2003. We really enjoyed it. Not sure I want to see the movie.
That was 2 hours of my life I can never get back. There should be a law against that sort of thing.
Maybe you didn’t like the movie, but these kids did:
http://media.photobucket.com/video/mamma%20mia/fashionvictim_/DRAMA/AmysPictures041.flv?o=9
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