I don't know if MAMMA MIA! is as dreadfully bad as some of my friends have warned me it would be. Maybe the fact that I watched it with my wife -- a HUGE ABBA fan -- and saw how she was enjoying it allowed me to appreciate it a little more.
But I think the fact that I waited this long to see the film (and never saw the stage show) allowed me to take this movie for what it was and expect nothing more. That said, my top criticism of the film is not the fact that half of the actors couldn't sing. There are other musical films ("Everyone Says I Love You" comes to mind) where non-singing actors have been able to "sell it" because the songs were so organically interwoven with the narrative.
What I liked about MAMMA MIA! was how well the existing songs were woven into the story. I think the problem is that the staging and direction screwed that up, turning these musical moments that really fit well into exactly what people who hate musicals hate about them -- these silly breaks in the reality for goofy moments that ruin the mood.
I can see the appeal of the film, and since I saw "Doubt" BEFORE this film (which few will be able to claim), I am only MORE appreciative of what Meryl has done in the past few years, let alone over the course of her career.
But I strongly disliked the dippy use of the townspeople as a ridiculously omnipresent Greek chorus (yeah, Greek chorus...I get it). And I hated the sometimes literal staging (like when Julie Walters sings a line about hanging and she's actually hanging from the side of a building, which would never happen. Maybe the only time this silly camp worked was in Christine Baranski's number, when the old slut played on the beach with the gaggle of shirtless boys and relived her glory days (the main theme of the film in general).
Everything else about MAMMA MIA!, quite frankly, was harmless. And there were even a few moments, such as Meryl's performance of "The Winner Takes It All," that were legitimately moving. In the end, this ranks nowhere near the top of movie musicals for me. But it didn't make me angry, either. It was what I thought it would be. It was alright. Maybe on the bad side of alright, but not as ridiculously bad as some have said.
2.0 out of 4
But I think the fact that I waited this long to see the film (and never saw the stage show) allowed me to take this movie for what it was and expect nothing more. That said, my top criticism of the film is not the fact that half of the actors couldn't sing. There are other musical films ("Everyone Says I Love You" comes to mind) where non-singing actors have been able to "sell it" because the songs were so organically interwoven with the narrative.
What I liked about MAMMA MIA! was how well the existing songs were woven into the story. I think the problem is that the staging and direction screwed that up, turning these musical moments that really fit well into exactly what people who hate musicals hate about them -- these silly breaks in the reality for goofy moments that ruin the mood.
I can see the appeal of the film, and since I saw "Doubt" BEFORE this film (which few will be able to claim), I am only MORE appreciative of what Meryl has done in the past few years, let alone over the course of her career.
But I strongly disliked the dippy use of the townspeople as a ridiculously omnipresent Greek chorus (yeah, Greek chorus...I get it). And I hated the sometimes literal staging (like when Julie Walters sings a line about hanging and she's actually hanging from the side of a building, which would never happen. Maybe the only time this silly camp worked was in Christine Baranski's number, when the old slut played on the beach with the gaggle of shirtless boys and relived her glory days (the main theme of the film in general).
Everything else about MAMMA MIA!, quite frankly, was harmless. And there were even a few moments, such as Meryl's performance of "The Winner Takes It All," that were legitimately moving. In the end, this ranks nowhere near the top of movie musicals for me. But it didn't make me angry, either. It was what I thought it would be. It was alright. Maybe on the bad side of alright, but not as ridiculously bad as some have said.
2.0 out of 4
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