Mamma Mia! is the cinematic adaptation of a popular jukebox Broadway musical featuring popular ABBA songs. The story is about a bride trying to find her biological father so she invites her mother’s lovers to her wedding. I never had any desire to see this movie in the theater. I like ABBA and musicals, but have no fondness for jukebox musicals because the stories are usually a flimsy excuse to showcase the music. Once there was a sequel, Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again, I knew that I would not watch it unless both were readily accessible to stream at no extra cost so I could watch the movies in one sitting. Over a year ago, the stars aligned, and all my required conditions existed so I decided to check out the franchise. This review is the first of two reviews.
I watch musicals because I like music, but to enjoy Mamma Mia!, you have to like the cast first. The first actor cast must have been Meryl Streep as the mother of the bride because it seems that whenever other actors are asked why they agreed to be in the movie, they gave Streep as the reason. The cast is filled with amazing actors who, well, mostly cannot sing and/or dance with the exception of Christine Baranski, who has a Broadway style. I love Pierce Brosnan, but I saw him dance in The Thomas Crown Affair, and I have never seen a handsome man plummet in attractiveness so quickly so I expected that this movie would be excruciating. I watched the movie while multitasking to lessen the blow and retain my goodwill for the participants. What the cast lacks in musical talent or rhythm, they more than make up for in terms of conveying exaggerated emotion and not once breaking character to look at the camera as if to say, “This plot is ridiculous.” It is!
As a lawyer, I found the plot extremely aggravating and kept internally screaming, “Just take a paternity test! This is stupid!” I am supposed to be watching a romantic comedy musical, but the story’s premise completely horrified me. Most people will probably not have the same problems that I had with the story so this review will probably be useless for most readers. How is a woman old enough to get married and looking for her dad so late in life? If you are more focused on your past than your present and future with your fiancé, maybe marriage is a bad idea at this time?
Do not get me started on whenever biological mothers decide that a father, or partner in same sex relationships, does not need to do the bare minimum of having an identity known to the child when artificial insemination or violence is not a factor. Do not conflate what I am saying with what role that other parent should play. Parents do not own kids. Kids have a right to their complete story, and that story includes the other parent even if that parent is a horrible person and/or will do a dreadful job. A kid should not have to do the work and literally cannot do it without the biological mother’s cooperation. It feels vaguely abusive to deny that information to a child. I know too many adults without that information who regret not having it, and that curiosity never goes away even with the mother’s death or senility. Mamma Mia! never even pauses to consider the gravity of this situation.
While the resolution sounds like the most ideal situation in terms of a relationship and creating community, the road to that solution is awfully rocky, and how will that work when she needs to provide a medical history? Also practically she needs a legal father or paperwork otherwise when one of these men is incapacitated or vice versa, and she wants to remain in their lives, no one is going to care about anyone’s feelings. Just ask any number of gay people when a partner gets sick. These details matter. Mamma Mia! is unbothered.
Mamma Mia! gave mature viewers an opportunity to get a love story, which is rare in media, but rare does not mean that mature audiences should settle for anything. I can see people picking up from where they last left off, but immediately after reconnecting. Damn, date first. It has been over two decades-you could not make it work before, and you have definitely changed. Any woman of any age would enjoy the fantasy of choosing between Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and (tries to make a straight face) Stellan Skarsgard. (Do you mean one of his sons because he is a great actor, but hot as of now? No.) While it felt more like a seventies sitcom than a movie, it is the part of the movie that feels most relatable; however unless you have Marvel money, no one should attempt to use CGI to have these actors play their younger selves.
Speaking of Marvel, I did not recognize Dominic Cooper, i.e. young Howard Stark in Captain America: The First Avenger and Agent Carter, as the fiancé in Mamma Mia! He was the most relatable character for me in the film because he rightfully felt used as his special day was used for another purpose. Unfortunately he is also the worst singer in a cast of bad singers. This distinction is not an honor.
If I was choosing for the mother of the bride, I would choose Firth’s character except out of left field, he is supposed to be gay. Am I the only one who missed the signs? Were there signs? I need more details and for him to get a romantic storyline in a story filled with them. For example, Julie Walters gets the shoot your shot award for doing so in the eleventh hour and succeeding while singing “Take a Chance on Me.” Probably the most perfect song placement in the entire film. I think that her chances for relationship success are better than Baranski’s character who suddenly found herself in a sequel to Under the Sand.
Just a few more questions. Why does everything come in threes: the mom’s friends, the bride’s friends and the alleged fathers? If the daughter grew up in Greece, why does she have an American accent? Can anyone just get Greek citizenship? How do they live there? Why did the writer set the musical in Greece? Was it the fantasy of an international buffet and exoticness?
Mamma Mia! is clearly the kind of movie that you star in because it seems like a lot of fun, gives you a chance to brag that you worked with Streep and pay your bills. You should watch it if you love the music, are not picky about vocal quality and do not have the same legal concerns otherwise it will feel like a horror movie to you. The movie is bright and beautiful, but I know very little about Greece so I have no idea if lovers of the country will be satisfied with the way that it is displayed in this film. Do not spend money!