Throwback Thursday Review: 'Mamma Mia!'

Sorry for the slight delay, but I decided to share two Throwback Thursday Reviews this week since there are two major sequels being released this weekend. I've also decided to go ahead and share the post recapping my best and worst films of the year so far on Sunday regardless of whether I finish watching the films I missed out on or not. Later this weekend, you can expect my Throwback Thursday Review of The Equalizer as well as my reviews of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, The Equalizer 2, and You Were Never Really Here. Next week, I aim to review Teen Titans Go! To The Movies and complete my Mission: Impossible series of reviews with reviews for Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, and the upcoming Mission: Impossible - Fallout.

'Mamma Mia!' Review

Mamma Mia! follows an independent, single hotel owner in the Greek islands as she prepares for her daughter's wedding with the help of her two old friends. Meanwhile, the spirited bride-to-be secretly invites three men from her mother's past in hopes of finding her real father and having him escort her down the aisle on her big day.

Based on a 1999 stage musical, Mamma Mia! is a jukebox movie musical directed by Phyllinda Lloyd and written by Catherine Johnson which revolves almost entirely around songs from the renowned pop group ABBA. I'd previously seen bits and pieces of Mamma Mia! in passing (largely because my youngest sister is OBSESSED with it), but this was my first time to watch it from start-to-finish. As a fan of musicals, I went in hoping to at least be charmed by the renditions of ABBA's delightfully catchy show tunes, but that of course proved to be an inevitable outcome.

Given the irresistibly upbeat nature of their music, it's difficult not to be won over by this whimsical musical in a matter of minutes. It's silly for sure, but in an endearing way. There's a peppiness that permeates from the ensemble and their insatiable delight at the opportunity to groove to ABBA. On that note, it's remarkable how coherent the plot turned out when you consider that it essentially just stitched several ABBA songs together to tell a story.

With that being said, it's an interesting premise that runs out of steam from a narrative perspective. The mystery of which man is Sophie's father is quite compelling, but that gets thrown out the window towards the end and my interest began to wane as a result. At that point, the music is no longer driven by the story and all the song-and-dance numbers turn into surface level celebration. It may be pure, harmless fun, but it suddenly becomes devoid of any substance.  

Otherwise, the lighting was wildly inconsistent between shots and it drove me absolutely insane... I wish Lloyd and her cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos had simply settled on a constant aesthetic. I will however concede that the choreography was flashy and well-done, the island made for an effective luscious backdrop, and the ADR and sound mix were fairly decent. The singing from the cast also wasn't half-bad either, ranging from mediocre-to-pretty good. 

The all-star ensemble amassed are really the film's saving grace though. Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried sell their mother-daughter dynamic and are able to service the script as best they can. Christine Baranski and Julie Walters are scene stealers as Donna's homegirls while Dominic Cooper is stuck on the sidelines as Sophie's choice fiancé.

Lastly, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Stellan Skarsgård lend their respective personalities to Sophie's prospective fathers and are a hoot to watch. Brosnan was panned by critics for his singing abilities, but I actually don't think he was THAT bad... He at least matched pitch, so he was nowhere near being one of the worst singers I've ever heard or anything... His singing voice was just alright. Firth and Skarsgård both sung pretty well though. 

As far as feel-good musicals go, Mamma Mia! hits that sweet spot between being totally ridiculous and obnoxiously overbearing. Certainly not one of my favorite movie musicals, but a worthwhile watch nevertheless!

Film Assessment: B