Mamma Mia!

Since I have no more money I can't really afford to see new movies in theaters for a while (unless someone happens to pay for me) so I'm reviewing a movie from last summer, "Mamma Mia!"...starring Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan and based on the unbelievable hit play with songs from ABBA...I have never seen the play on Broadway...so I have nothing to compare it to. But I assume the play was a lot better than the movie adaptation.

Meryl Streep plays Donna Sheridan. She lives in Greece and runs a hotel there. Her daughter, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is getting married. But the big mystery is who is her father (she wants him to attend the wedding)...She has narrowed it down to three possible guys from her mother's past...Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan), Harry Bright (Collin Firth), and Bill Anderson (Stellan Skarsgard). There's the plot...held together with ABBA songs.

Meryl Streep is the sole reason why any human being would even consider seeing this movie. She is the best actress currently living/making movies and she she can essentially play any character that is given to her. Throughout the entire movie she is both of funny and energetic and just a joy to watch (My review for "The Proposal" was very pro-Betty White...this one is very pro-Meryl Streep) Also she is pretty convincing playing a character 15 years younger that her actual age, 59. And on top of that she has a great singing voice which can be seen in several places like when she sings "Mamma Mia!" and "The Winner Takes it All"...my favorite part of the whole movie. Luckily her voice drowns out Pierce Brosnan's in their songs together...I'll get more into his involvement in the movie later on...) So if you don't love her...then feel free to avoid the movie at all costs. And also if you hate musicals and/or ABBA this movie is also one to avoid.

The two actresses who play Donna's friends, Rosie and Tanya (Julie Walters and Christine Baranski) are also enjoyable parts of the movie (as well as the on location shooting in Greece...which looks great...just had to add that in there somewhere). They have great chemistry with Meryl Streep and the 3 do a good job with songs such as "Dancing Queen"

The 3 guys in the movie don't fare as well. None of them can sing. Their songs together are some of the worst on the entire soundtrack. And none of them seen like they have chemistry of any kind with Meryl Streep. However, by far the worst is Pierce Brosnan. Someone said that he could sing. That individual is the biggest liar...ever...that statement is a complete falsehood. He can try to sing but he never succeeds. He has no range and little or no control over what he voice does.

The recordings of the ABBA songs are pretty good. I actually prefer Meryl Streep's rendition to the originals in some cases. However, they don't feel natural at all in the movie. Everytime a character starts to sing it kind of caught me by surprise and did not flow well. This also adds to the overall cheesiness of the movie and some embarrassingly awful scenes...very interesting choreography at times...kind of wonder what people were thinking. "Sweeney Todd", "Chicago", "Hairspray", and "Dreamgirls" are examples of successful musicals in recent years, where the music placement seems natural and fits the scene well. And unfortunately "Mamma Mia!" does not belong on that list...and for good reason.

2 stars...yes, you guessed it...mainly for Meryl Streeps involvement. Overall I was very dissapointed with this movie (and I love most musicals)...if you must, rent it for a dollar at Hannaford or Wal-Mart. One last note...the writer, director, and producer of the movie had no clue at all how to make movies. Catherine Johnson, Phyllida Lloyd, and Judy Craymer all did the play. Writing, directing and producing plays is much different than doing the same for movies, another reason why the movie adaptation did not work well.

-Joseph Sbrilli