MAMMA MIA!

Director: Phyllida Lloyd

Stars: Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, Julie Walters, Dominic Cooper, Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski

Year: 2008

Rating: PG-13

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I was so prepped to dislike this film, mainly because I've been such a HUGE fan of the Swedish band ABBA for over thirty years. There's a guy in my apartment complex who's played the soundtrack of the new film version of Mamma Mia! ever since the film came out in theaters, and I used to cringe every time I heard the music ... only because it wasn't ABBA.

Now, I'd like to get that soundtrack myself.

Mamma Mia! opens with young bride-to-be Sophie Sheridan (Amanda Seyfried) mailing off three letters late one summer evening, to three different men - one of whom is her father. Sophie, you see, lives on a beautiful Greek isle with her ex-hippie mother Donna (Meryl Streep), where she was born and raised, and only recently she found her mother's old diary from twenty years ago. Reading it, Sophie's learned that her true father - whom her mother never speaks of - could be any one of three men her mother "dated" around that time - engaged businessman Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan), who ended up leaving Donna to go back and marry his fiancee; gad-a-bout boater Bill Anderson (Stellan Skarsgard), who never took anything in life seriously, let alone Donna; or Harry Bright (Colin Firth), a way-too-brief fling that never should have happened in the first place. Determined to have her own father walk her down the aisle on her wedding day, Sophie idealistically just knows she'll be able to tell which of the men is her real dad just as soon as they arrive ... but first off, she has to figure out how to tell her mom what she's done.

Enter Donna Sheridan, who owns and runs the hotel villa on the island that she and Sophie have called home for over twenty years. The building is badly in need of major repair work, Donna owes money to all of her vendors and employees - but somehow she manages to scrape by, doing virtually all of the work herself. She's tired and lonely and unsure about her daughter marrying so young ... but finds herself totally revitalized when her two best friends in the world - Tanya (Christine Baranski) and Rosie (Julie Walters) - arrive not only for the wedding, but to also show Donna their support and bring her back out of her shell.

All of the story is, of course, told (partially) through and set to some of ABBA's biggest hits (including "Honey, Honey", "Take a Chance on Me", "Super Trouper", "SOS", "Money, Money, Money", "Voulez-Vous" - my personal favorite, as done in the film - and of course the title track) - and yes, the characters, like in old musicals dating back to the 1930's, simultaneously break into song or dance without notice, starting a new musical number. What's nice is that the songs help the story along nicely; some of the words have been changed here and there to accommodate, but everything fits nicely and really adds to the overall joyousness and spontaneity of the film.

And that's probably the one word that fits best here: "joyous". I've seen that word used as a description in film reviews before, but this is the first time I've actually known what it meant. Mamma Mia! is a damned good feel-good movie, period. The film's taken a lot - sorry, a LOT - of hits for everything from bad cinematography to the less than stellar singing talents of its cast (all of whom do their own work here) ... especially Pierce Brosnan, who actually surprised me with being better than I thought he was going to be. But all is forgiven just because the film's energy is so strong, so revitalizing, and so much ... FUN. It's a movie that will have you smiling, singing along, and marveling at how there doesn't seem to be a damned thing that Meryl Streep can't do in film. She's amazing, yet again, in Mamma Mia! - was the reason I gave into seeing the film at last, and is one of the biggest reasons I asked for and got the DVD for Christmas.

The rest of the cast is right up there - every person in this film seems to be having the time of his or her life making it - and Christine Baranski and Julie Walters in particular shine as Donna's racy little buddies who find their own share of love on the island. The History Boys' Dominic Cooper, as Sophie's bridegroom Sky, isn't given enough light to shine in, but is great in the role - plus he and his buddies in the film provide plenty of eye candy for the women viewers.

But the three male leads - Brosnan, Skarsgard and Firth - all have both funny and touching moments of comedy. After their characters arrive on the island, things only get worse as Sophie tries to hide them from her mom while simultaneously trying to figure out which one is her dad. None of them even has a clue that Sophie could be his, and when Donna (Streep) finds them all hiding out in the loft of an old barn, the you-know-what hits the fan (complete with musical number) that's worth seeing the film for alone. Man, that Meryl is agile!

The film doesn't seem to hinge so much on whether Sophie and Sky will make it to the altar, as it does who will make it their with them - but the wafer-thin plot unfolds to some of the most exuberant and entertaining dancing, singing and music that's been put onto film of late. Mamma Mia! is, maybe, the ultimate feel-good movie; one that will leave you smiling for hours ... and singing ABBA tunes under your breath for days. It's colorful, vibrant, alive, and well worth seeing; if you're an ABBA fan, well worth owning. **** - Reel Awesome