Fun is contagious. Okay that might not be a medical fact but if everyone on screen is having a blast, the mood can quickly spread to spectators in the theater. That seemed to be the case with last year's Hairspray , and it seems to be happening again with Mamma Mia! Last year saw a sudden resurgence in musicals of various styles with Once, Colma, Walk Hard, and Romance and Cigarettes joining Hairspray . Maybe we're entering an new era of movie musicals.
A trio of men return from the past in Mamma Mia! (Universal)
Based on the hit 1999 stage play, Mamma Mia! is a feel-good musical employing the breezy pop tunes of ABBA to weave together a tale about one young woman about to be married and trying to figure out who her father is. Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is the young bride who's just found her mother's diary, which suggests that there are three possible candidates for who her father is. There are the rather stuffy Sam (Pierce Brosnan) and Harry (Colin Firth), and the free-spirited Bill (Stellan Skarsgard). Sophie is determined to have her father give her away. So, without telling her mother Donna (Meryl Streep), she invites all three to the wedding, figuring that she'll know her father on sight. Of course it's not that easy. Also arriving on the scenic Greek isle where her mother runs a broken down hotel are Donna's dear friends Rosie (Julie Walters) and Tanya (Christine Baranski). Needless to say with all these people on a tiny island, things get a little crazy.
Girls just want to have fun (Universal)
Since Hollywood pretty much stopped making glamorous studio musicals by the end of the sixties (a few would spring up now and again), the only place you could get your movie musical fix was Bollywood. In India, they still have forgotten or turned their backs on the over the top musical romance. Mamma Mia! draws on both the Hollwood MGM musical and the Bollywood film to deliver a movie that takes you out of the real world and makes you forget all your problems. The price of gas won't matter, global warming will fade from memory, and you won't even care about the bills you have to pay when you get home. Sometimes it's nice to go to the movies for nothing more than escape. & (I consider action films escapist fare but with a high body count.)
Maybe not a glamorous Meryl Streep but a radiantly beautiful one in Mamma Mia! (Universal)
Chief among the film's pleasures is Meryl Streep as Donna. I remember her singing in a TV adaptation of the musical Alice at the Palace and I always wondered why she didn't try a musical role sooner (at one point I remember she was rumored to star in Evita , now that might have been a different film if she had taken the role rather than Madonna). As Donna, Streep has a blast playing a role that allows her to display both her comedic and singing skills. As Donna, she presents a woman who has lived the life she's wanted, and while she may reconsider some of her choices she's not eaten up by any regrets. The role's not glamorous in the sense that she gets to wear gorgeous costumes or dance on beautiful sets. No, this is more like a come as you are musical with dances done in the rundown hotel and Streep wearing overalls for a good chunk of the film. But it's that casualness that adds to the fun and keeps all pretension at bay (something that Chicago failed miserably at).
Brought to the screen by stage director Phylida Lloyd, the film has a giddy sense of exuberance. How can you resist a film that serves up a chorus line of men emerging from the sea and dancing with flippers on or a group of elderly Greek kitchen ladies who come out to back up the leads! Make sure to stay through the end credits for a hilarious pair of disco numbers by the cast. That alone is worth the price of admission. But you might want to cover your ears when Pierce Brosnan tries to croon. With the exception of the out of tune Brosnan, everyone else proves a delight. Walters and Baranski stand out in particular, displaying humor and just the right amount of sass.
Mamma Mia! is what I consider the antidote to Sex and the City . This is a chick flick without obsession over clothes, pining over men, miscellaneous whining or bitchiness. These women get along, they tease each other affectionately, they enjoy sex, and don't look to marriage as the brass - or should I say diamond - ring. How refreshing. These women are far more liberating and happy than any of the women in Sex and the City.
Mamma Mia! (rated PG-13 for some sex-related comments) has an exclamation in its title for a reason - it just wants to shout out its sense of fun. The film is buoyantly unpretentious and proclaims at the top of its voice, "Take me as I am." I never thought I'd enjoy nearly two hours of ABBA songs but I guess I was wrong. But let's try to keep that out little secret.
Companion viewing: Hairspray (2007), Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Muriel's Wedding
