Film Review: Mamma Mia

Director: Phyllida Lloyd

The recent musical romantic comedy that had been receiving rave reviews on Broadway and the West End, based on the songs by ABBA with a few new songs added by Benny Andersson. The film also became a huge success both critically and commercially with it making over half a billion dollars in profit. It will probably stun you to find out that I didn't hate this movie like you'd expect so this won't involve paragraphs of criticisms over the cheerful singing, interesting dance moves and the casting of Pierce Brosnan.

Sophie Sheridan (Amanda Seyfried) is preparing to get married to Sky (Dominic Cooper), she lives on a Greek Island with her mother Donna (Meryl Streep) who runs a rustic villa which is struggling for cash. Sophie learns from her mothers diary that one of three men is her father and she invites all three to the wedding determined to find out who her father is he can walk her down the aisle on her wedding day. So Sam (Pierce Brosnan), Harry (Colin Firth) and Bill (Stellan Skarsgard) arrive in Greece unsure as to the exact reason for their invitations.

The cast during the credits

This sort of film will always polarize critics especially with its cheesy positive vibe throughout but if you dont like ABBA or musicals then I'm not sure why you'd watch it to begin with. The acting, singing and dancing is fun and easy to watch with the exception of Brosnan's voice but more on that later. Amanda Seyfried is unlikely to get a better role suited to her talents as an actress and a singer whilst the Dynamos of Streep, Julie Walters and Christine Baranski add many funny moments.

The dramatic moments certainly dont live up to the fun moments and the choice to cast Pierce Brosnan is bewildering at best considering his poor voice (not his fault really, he gave it a go). But the finale can't help but raise a smile with me and the songs are so catchy you'll be humming them for a week.

2.5/4 Cheesy fun with some catchy songs to boot