I just wanted to watch a fun little chick flick to chase away some of those weekday blues earlier this week and the pick for the day was – Mamma Mia! Directed by Phyllida Lloyd, this musical is an out & out chick flick. The kinds you want to watch with your girlfriends and laugh.
If I hadn’t been a big admirer of Meryl Streep, I highly doubt if I would have enjoyed this film as much as I did. The story is about how 20-year-old Sophie (played by Amanda Seyfried) sends out her wedding invitations to three men because one of them could be her father. She feels she would just ‘know’ who her dad is when she meets him in person. So she mails the invites without breathing a word about it to her mother Donna (Streep), who runs a resort on a pretty Greek island.
Soon, we have Donna’s ex-flames Bill (Stellan Skarsgård), Sam (Pierce Brosnan), Harry (Colin Firth) arriving by a fancy boat on the eve of Sophie’s wedding and chaos ensues. Since this is a musical, everyone keeps breaking into fun songs by ABBA. All the three possible dads are sweet and I loved the fact that there was no tension or rivalry going on between then. Instead, the men share an easy camaraderie. Meryl Streep is adorable as the overworked single mom who is running a resort by herself and suddenly faced with not one, but three ex-boyfriends at one go. But who is the dad? That’s the mystery.
The cinematography is gorgeous, everything is picture-perfect and pleasing to the eyes, especially the pristine blue Greek waters. The plot is cute and larger than life. Everybody is sweet, happy and singy-songy. It makes you want to tear up, because you feel like “I want that life!!! I want to own a resort in a beautiful island and do nothing but sing songs on the beach with the love of my life!”.
Despite being a mother-daughter tale at its heart, Seyfried and Streep don’t share too many scenes. The few times the two leading ladies do come together in a frame, they look lovely. The casting guys did a damn good job with their picks. And gosh, Pierce Brosnan still looks so hot, he can still make both men & women weak in their knees. “Pierce Brosnan makes Daniel Craig look like a joke in James Bond,” husband said from the sides while I was watching the film. Agreed.
As far as the pace is concerned, it’s fine, but the story sort of drags towards the second half. While 3/4th of the film is enjoyable, the fun fizzles out as the seconds tick by. “Mamma Mia” is two songs too long. Also, the climax takes ‘happy endings’ too seriously, so we have a very farcical conclusion, which was sort of a bummer. I guess, if it wasn’t for Streep singing and hopping around like a queen, making even ridiculous scenes look genuine & warm, this movie would have been unbearable.
Okay, I am going to go listen to some ABBA songs. You have a fun week ahead!