At the Movies: Mamma Mia!

On a small Greek island, a young girl named Sophie is set to be married. She invites three men to her wedding, one of which, according to her mother's teenage diary, is her father. Problem is, no on knows which one. Throw in a musical soundtrack full of ABBA songs, a literal Greek Chorus, and a cast which includes Miranda Priestly, Lily Kane, Mr. Darcy, a former James Bond and Mrs. Weasley, and you have Mamma Mia!

The film version of the hit Broadway play is supremely cheesy with horrific choreography and some truly painful singing (mostly by Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth, as two of Sophie's possible fathers). The direction sucks. Moments are overacted, overly long and overly stylized. In short, it's pretty much a hot tranny mess. Yet, I found myself smiling and having fun by about the 1 hour mark. Amanda Seyfried is lovely as Sophie and has a really terrific pop voice. Julie Walters is hilarious as an old friend of the family. And watching Meryl Streep (one of my living heroes) sing Winner Takes it All (my favorite ABBA song) was the highlight of the movie.

Mamma Mia! is not great and, unless you really love ABBA or musicals, I'd say skip it. However, if you're looking for a fun movie to see with your mom, you could do a lot worse.

P.S. I realize the cool points I've lost seeing Mamma Mia! instead of The Dark Knight this weekend will never be recovered, but I swear on everything holy, I'd have preferred to see The Dark Knight. I'm just waiting for the crowds to die down.