Mamma Mia

I saw the stage version of Mamma Mia shortly after it opened on Broadway, and found it to be overly fluffy and inconsequential, but still fun. I saw the movie version of Mamma Mia yesterday, and found it to be somewhat leaden and contrived. I believe the material works best on the stage, where there is more fantasy and interaction between the cast and the audience. Stuck up on the screen, in real world locations, the overly light story and almost complete lack of a compelling narrative makes for a movie that just never really seems to go anywhere. It also helps that in the stage version, they mostly cast the stars based on their singing ability, rather than needing a famous name above the title to draw in ticket buyers.

One of the major problems right off the bat is the fact that the play's original director, Phyllida Lloyd, has been charged with bringing her work to the screen. She has no prior experience working with film, and it certainly shows with its clumsy editing and uninspired camerawork. The story is set in Greece, so I obviously expected to see some glorious shots or at least some lovely backdrops. Nothing truly comes alive here, not even the musical numbers. The ABBA songs are as obnoxiously catchy in that guilty pleasure sort of way as they ever were, but the staging and the sometimes sloppy choreography drag it down. Unlike last year's Hairspray (which was released exactly one year ago this weekend), the movie is rigid and does not try to break free of its stage limitations. It also lacks the energy and spark of that film. Mamma Mia should be exuberant and joyful, and as long as the songs are on display, it comes close. It's almost everything else that drags it down.

The plot kicks off when a 20-year-old bride to be named Sophie (Amanda Seyfried from TV's Big Love) sends out three letters to three separate men whom she thinks may be her father, and invites them to her wedding. Apparently Sophie has never heard of DNA testing, so we get a lot of wacky musical hijinks as the three unassuming men arrive on the island where Sophie lives in a run-down struggling villa resort that her mother runs. Her mother is Donna (Meryl Streep), a faded pop star who is not happy to see these three men walking back into her life. The men include the charming Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan), the uptight Harry Bright (Colin Firth), and the adventurous Bill (Stellan Skarsgard). The three slowly start to realize that they may or may not be Sophie's father after they each had brief affairs with Donna years apart from each other. Also on the island are the two other former members of Donna's band and her best friends, Rosie (Julie Walters) and Tanya (Christine Baranski).

Mamma Mia has never really been a plot-heavy piece to begin with, but the movie really intensifies and emphasizes its almost complete lack of a narrative. Aside from a couple moments shared between Donna and her two friends, a lot of the characters are total bores, and not much fun to watch. Sophie's future groom, Sky (Dominic Cooper), barely has a reason for existing in the film, other than to share a duet with Sophie on "Lay All Your Love On Me". The rest of the cast is mainly reduced to standing in the background, or acting as a chorus in a song. Of the three possible dads, only Pierce Brosnan makes any sort of impression, and it's both a good and bad one. When he's playing his character and reciting his dialogue, he's perfectly fine and quite likable. When he's asked to sing, however, his voice croaks and groans as he desperately tries to stay on key with the music. It's definitely a case of an actor being cast on star power alone, rather than if he was actually right for the part. If this movie proves anything, it's that Brosnan should keep his singing in the shower, and not out in the open.

The moments where Mamma Mia does work is mainly credited to the female stars, who seem much more enthused and happy to be in this movie than the male leads do. Those who saw 1990's Postcards From the Edge, or more recently A Prairie Home Companion, know that Meryl Streep can carry a tune. While the character of Donna isn't exactly a challenging role, you can still tell that Streep is giving it her all, especially during some of her more heartfelt musical numbers like "The Winner Takes It All" late in the film. As her daughter, Amanda Seyfried is sweet, lovely to look at, and also a true talent both with her singing and her performance. Most of her work has been on television, but I think she could have a strong career in films if she wanted. Also notable are Julie Walters and Christine Baranski, who bring some much needed comic energy to the film. They get all the best lines, and although they don't really have anything to do with the plot itself, I was glad they were there, as the energy they display in their performances is infectious to the audience.

Even before I saw the movie, I kind of suspected that Mamma Mia wouldn't work the same way on the screen. On the stage, it's an interactive environment where the audience is encouraged to clap along with the songs, and even dance in the aisles at certain points. Obviously, you can't do that in a movie, though apparently the woman sitting a couple seats away from me didn't care, and decided to sing along softly with the ABBA songs anyway. The stage version was never really great theater to begin with, but it was a lot of fun, and a great little piece of escapism. The movie, aside from a couple bright spots and some catchy songs, ends up mostly being a disappointment.

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