Mamma Mia!

'Mamma Mia' is the type of entertainment where any negative feelings you have towards musicals must be left at the door.  To fully enjoy this latest film adaptation of a stage musical you must, dare I say, let the music take you, for that is the driving force of the entire piece.  For a Swedish Eurovision song contest winning quartet, ABBA grew into quite an overnight phenomenon sweeping the world with clever pop tunes that transcended cultures.  In short you didn't have to like pop music to be moved by an ABBA song.  It was inevitable that  Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson's incredibly successful musical structured around the songs they crafted for the group would be made into a feature.  Directed by leading British theater director Phyllida Lloyd, who also helmed the stage production, the film is far from perfect.  There will no doubt be comparisons to last year's summer hit 'Hairspray' which sadly this picture doesn't hold a candle to. Yet despite the amateurish nature of the production that can not be ignored, what keeps it together are some rather enthusiastic performances led by one of the century's most versatile actresses, Meryl Streep.

On a beautiful Greek isle, taverna owner Donna Sheridan's (Streep) lusty past comes back to haunt her on the eve of the wedding of her only daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried from Mean Girls).  Hoping to be given away by the father she's never met, Sophie's discovery of her mother's diary reveals that there are not one, not two, but three possible candidates for the job.  As the lead singer of the 70's pop group 'Donna and the Dynamos', her mother had dalliances with three different men, one of which could be her dad.  Behind her mother's back, Sophie sends invitations to bohemian self-help author Bill (Stellan Skarsgard), British banker Harry Bright (Colin Firth) and successful architect Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan).  All three men immediately respond to Sophie's invite and though they coincidentally befriend each other on the journey to the island, they really have no idea why they've been summoned.

For Donna, a surprise visit and reunion with three of her former suitors is a nightmare.  Though she share's fond memories with each of them, seeing her greatest love Sam again reopens old wounds, like the fact that he abruptly left her to marry another.  In her corner are two of her closest girlfriends and former Dynamos, Rosie (Julie Walters), a successful culinary author and Tanya (Christine Baranski), who has been married almost as many times as she's been under the knife.

'Mamma Mia' the movie has the same basic structure as the show except shooting it on location in the Greek isles manages to bring more romanticism to the story.  Every major character has some unresolved feelings under the surface that thankfully don't feel like the manipulative story ideas of desperate writers.  Sophie is hopelessly in love with husband to be Sky (Dominic Cooper), but is she marrying him for the right reasons or just to be near her mom who she fears will live alone?  Rosie hopes that maybe fellow author Bill might "Take a Chance" on her while Harry isn't sure if he's ready to come out of the closet.

And then there's Donna and Sam, who despite being happy to see each other, share an equal tension and anger over the unforgotten difficulties of their relationship.  Its actually a welcome change of pace to see the romantic struggles of two middle aged people in a major Hollywood production of today.  When Streep and Brosnan get into full blown arguments concerning their feelings or Sophie's future, their rendition of 'SOS' could have come off as laughable (especially with Brosnan's untrained singing voice), but there is passion and sincerity behind their performances.  Streep gives perhaps the most powerful rendition in the film with "The Winner Takes it All", truly bringing deeper meaning to the song as an aging, scorned woman who no longer feels she has any passion or fight within her.

Despite new levels of emotion being brought to classic ABBA songs, there is fun to be had in ensemble performances of "Money, Money, Money", "Chiquitita" and "Does Your Mother Know" performed by the sultry Baranski in response to a one night stand with a much younger suitor. 

Much of the main cast have no musical training and sometimes don't come across well, but they make up for it with their dramatic performances.  Streep can do no wrong at this point in her career and the same can be said for Brosnan who seems to be entering a much more exciting and rewarding phase post-James Bond.  After seeing her play wide-eyed dimwitted blondes in 'Mean Girls' and 'Alpha Dog', I never would have figured Amanda Seyfried in the central role of Sophie.  Not only is she quite likable, but she has an infectious singing voice.  Her chemistry with Cooper is nearly non-existent, but the interaction between her and Streep is believable as a daughter with a mother who sees the rebellious steak of her youth developing within her.

The film isn't one of the best or most memorable musicals in recent years and though they may deny it, Ulvaeus and Andersson owe a great deal of inspiration to P.J. Hogan's 1995 international hit "Muriel's Wedding" which not only introduced American audiences to Toni Collette and Rachel Griffiths, but featured a wall-to-wall ABBA soundtrack.  There are a number of eye-rolling inducing moments in 'Mamma Mia', but they come from the goofy silliness of the material and the infectious enthusiasm of its cast who manage to give the production some much appreciated and enjoyable sweetness.