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Mamma Mia! (2008)

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Mamma Mia!. Feature film. (2008, 108 mins) IMDB

...I love the colours of the Greek Islands...

I

have to admit when I heard the first song of this musical playing, I cringed and pressed fast forward. I hadn't heard it before and I didn't want to. That wasn't the case with the songs that followed. They were oh so familiar and having lived in Sweden, I know it dangerous to attack ABBA--the songwriters for the music.

Since it's a musical, it must be about love story and I suppose that's the case. A young woman is getting married to a young man on a Greek island. She lives there with her mother who runs a beat-up vacation hotel. Not much of a story so far until you realize, the mother had flings with three different men some twenty-one years ago and either one these men could be the father. No one knows the entire secret.

The daughter secretly invites the three men to her wedding in the hopes of finding out who her father really is. The problem is there is no easy answer to this question.

The surprise in Act III is the daughter and groom call off the wedding in the church just seconds before the I DO part. This gives bachelor number one the courage to propose to the mother and there's a wedding after all.

The singing by non-singers is hit and miss.

The story is barely interesting.

The music is catchy and drives any interest in watching, but the backdrop of Greek islands doesn't hurt. I'm always fascinated and entranced by the blues in Greek islands. It's in the water. It's in the paint on the walls and in the tiles. I don't know what it is exactly about it, but I love it.

Why was Julie Waters in this film? That's odd casting.

Posted 2009/05/27 at 20h54ET in Movie Commentary.

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