Mamma Mia! (2008)

Number Rolled: 34

Movie Name/Year: Mamma Mia! (2008)

Tagline: Take a trip down the aisle you'll never forget.

Genre: Comedy, Musical, Romance

Length: 108 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Production Companies: Universal Pictures, Relativity Media, Littlestar, Playtone, Internationale Filmproduktion Richter

Producer: Benny Andersson, Judy Craymer, Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks, Mark Huffam, Björn Ulvaeus, Rita Wilson

Director: Phyllida Lloyd

Writer: Catherine Johnson

Actors: Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Streep, Stellan Skarsgård, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Rachel McDowall, Ashley Lilley, Julie Waters, Christine Baranski, Ricardo Montez, Mia Soteriou, Enzo Squillino, Dominic Cooper, Philip Michael

Blurb from Netflix: On the Greek isle of Kalokairi, a single mom goes into a tizzy when her bride-to-be daughter invites three of Mom’s ex-lovers to the wedding.

Selina’s Point of View:

This was my first time watching Mamma Mia. I’m not sure if it would have been better if I saw it earlier or not. Parts of it made me emotional as a new mom… but not really for any other reason.

I’m not going to go into whether or not any of it was believable, because I can’t. I grew up in a world where men who claimed their kids were in the minority, and this film was about three guys stepping up to a plate, having no clue if it was theirs or not.

The whole thing felt surreal and off to me.

Some of the songs were great, but I didn’t really like most of the music, to be honest. There was one scene/song that just came out of no where and felt like it belonged anywhere BUT this film.

I guess I’m just not that big a fan of ABBA.

I do enjoy musicals in general, this one just really didn’t do it for me.

Even well-loved movies aren’t going to please everyone.

Cat’s Point of View:

If I were asked to give a single statement to sum up my experience with Mamma Mia, there would be no waffling. My immediate and unequivocal response would be – I loved it. There really isn’t anything I didn’t enjoy about it.

The framework of the film using ABBA songs to illustrate a story in the fashion of a Greek Comedy was a stroke of genius. There are few who haven’t heard some of the songs at least once, as pervasive as they are in pop culture crossing generations. If I wasn’t trying to watch the film quietly with my headphones on so that my family could sleep, I would have been singing along with quite a few of the numbers, myself. 

The familiarity with the music is just an extra layer that draws you into the world. Of course, if you aren’t familiar with the works of ABBA; not only will you have remedied that by the end of the movie, but you won’t have less of an experience as a result.

Then there’s the cast. I have to say that this has to be my favorite role I’ve seen Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady, Into the Woods, The Post) in. One of the scenes featuring her singing had so much heartfelt emotion in it that my eyes were leaking.

The movie is crammed with talent. You’ve got Pierce Brosnan (The November Man, I.T., The Foreigner), Colin Firth (Dorian Gray, The King's Speech, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Julie Walters (Brave, Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool, Paddington 2), Christine Baranski (The Bounty Hunter, Yellowbird, The Good Wife), and Stellan Skarsgård (Angels & Demons, Melancholia, Cinderella) to name a few. I think this is my favorite role to date for Amanda Seyfried (Gone, Les Misérables, Epic), also.

There’s such whimsy in the film with all the singing and dancing, but I also enjoyed how those scenes were used to showcase the relationships of the characters – whether friends or otherwise. The mother-daughter scenes between Streep and Seyfried really resonated, and I loved the friend groupings for both the mother’s generation and the daughter’s. It looks like everyone on set had a lot of fun filming this project, and those good vibes shine through clearly.

I’m also pretty impressed that the cast really did sing all of their own parts. That’s just one of those things that adds something a little extra to a musical for me.

The sequel to this movie came out earlier this year, and you can bet I am now super excited to see it to find out what happens next. I can’t wait to see what sort of musically illustrated shenanigans will happen. I would definitely give this film a whole-hearted recommendation.

Languages

Speech Available: English

Subtitles Available: English

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 55%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 66%

Metascore - 51/100

Metacritic User Score – 6.9/10

IMDB Score – 6.4/10

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 2.5/5

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 5/5

Movie Trailer: