"Mamma Mia" - spoiler movie review

WARNING!

OK, here's your warning that this is a REALLY LOOOOOOOOOONG review. Yeah, I know, I can hear y'all grumble, "Yeah, so what else is new? You *always* write long reviews." No, I mean, if you take my regular reviews as normal, in comparison, this review is REALLY LOOOOOOOOOONG. If for whatever reason you decide to brave it anyway, I have a few suggestions:

1. Call in sick to work.
2. Take a vacation day off from work.
3. Get a babysitter for the day.
4. Read the review in bits, a little every day when you have a chance. That should occupy all of your free time until the end of the year.

OK, did I mention that this review is REALLY LOOOOOOOOOONG? Can't say I didn't warn you!




You're really going to attempt to read this manuscript, huh?




I mentioned a while ago my feelings concerning the "Mamma Mia" movie that would be coming out, and that I couldn't wait to see it. No, we didn't go to see the movie the morning of opening night at a midnight screening - that honor unexpectedly ended up going to "The Dark Knight". But we did make plans to see it on opening night itself, which is what we did.


Bottom line - I loved it. It was really interesting to see what changes they made from the show, and for the most part, I liked the changes, much of it brought on by the fact that they were doing a movie and didn't have spatial restrictions like they do on stage. Most noticeable in that department occurs later in the film. On stage, the whole segment where Harry gives Donna a check to cover some expenses and where Donna sings "The Winner Takes It All" to Sam are all done inside Donna's bedroom. But why confine yourself to just her bedroom when you have the expanse of an island, not to mention the gorgeous scenery of the trail leading up to where the wedding took place and the surrounding parts of the island and the water. You also get all the beautiful shots as Sam, Bill and Harry are sailing on the boat with Sophie during the "Our Last Summer" segment, something that's totally different than in the show.

There were a number of nice nods to the Broadway show that got incorporated into the movie, but I think they were done so in a way that wasn't intrusive. If you've seen the show, the bits are funnier. If not, they're still funny and good. There's a segment in "Mamma Mia" where heads pop up over the edge of the roof, which during the show always brings a round of laughter, and it did pretty much the same thing in the movie. There's also a lot of choreography during songs like "Lay All Your Love On Me", "Super Trouper" and "Does Your Mother Know" that are identical to what's in the show. The very end of the film might be odd for viewers who don't know the show since most films don't end with a concert segment. It's one thing to just have the 3 women performing, but then Meryl Streep does this bit where she's talking into the camera as if she's addressing the audience, which comes off a bit more odd. But those who've seen the show know that the end is in fact pretty much just a concert, with the songs as encores and oftentimes, with the audience up and dancing and singing along.

Most of my thoughts are tied to performances and characters and songs, so I'll break down my comments that way.

As I'd mentioned previously, I had some trepidation when they first announced that Meryl Streep was cast as Donna because that's not how I envisioned her. I always think of Meryl as being very refined and cultured, and I wasn't sure she'd be loose enough to play Donna the way Donna needs to be. Many years ago, I was a fan of hers from films like "Holocaust", "Kramer vs. Kramer", "The Deer Hunter" and "Sophie's Choice". Then there was a period when she seemed to either got nominated or actually won for whatever role she played in a film, no matter what it was, almost as a knee-jerk reaction, and I got tired of that so really stopped watching her in films, though I did think she was very good in "Death Becomes Her", which was also the first time I remember seeing her in something not serious and heavy. Then I saw her in "The Devil Wears Prada", and I was a fan again. She was amazing in that, especially since her performance was so understated but her character still had a strong grip, really without any shouting or carrying on. I'm glad her performance in "Mamma Mia" came after that, because otherwise, I think I would have had a real problem with her casting. I hadn't seen "A Prairie Home Companion", so I wasn't aware that she apparently sings in that film.

Here are two pictures of Meryl Streep, one from "The Devil Wears Prada" and one from "Mamma Mia". Of course, you can change a person's looks with hair and makeup and costume and she's an actress after all, but I always think of her more the way she looks in the first picture, more austere, prim, prissy, refined, and usually in "important" films, but definitely not something as carefree as a musical incorporating the songs of ABBA. In the second picture, they've really played down and simplified her looks, which befits Donna much better.



Well, she had me sold in this film. She was terrific as Donna, and she has a great singing voice, which is important for this role. There were many very silly and free moments and a few more that were slightly on the risque side, and she handled it all beautifully. Here's a segment from "Dancing Queen" where you can see the funny, silly and carefree side of her, something I didn't previously associate with Meryl Streep. As you'd expect, she was also great in the scenes where she had to be poignant or any of the scenes dealing with Donna's relationship with Sam. I particularly liked her performance at the earlier part of "Chiquitita". In the show, Donna is upset and just buries herself, but in the film, she's actually in tears as her friends try to comfort her.


My biggest praise for this movie, though, goes to Amanda Seyfried, who plays Sophie, and she doesn't just play her - she is *perfect* as Sophie. I could not think of one thing she did that I didn't like or that I would have liked to have seen done differently. Her inflections in speaking and singing were dead on, and her expressions were as well. As many times as I've seen the show, I haven't always been completely happy with the actresses who have played Sophie. Some of them were terrific, but I'd occasionally see someone who didn't sing the songs as well or who didn't play the part as well. Amanda shines in both departments. Yes, I know, I'm gushing, and I wasn't even familiar with Amanda prior to this, but I'm just so thrilled that for the version that I'll have on DVD and that I'll be able to watch any time, the person playing Sophie is just absolutely perfect.

There is one particular bit in the story where, whether by Amanda's choice or the director's, her interpretation isn't the one I like. During her bachelorette party, she's sitting and talking to Bill at one point, who asks if her father is there, and she says she doesn't know. My preferred reading of her line is as a throwaway - she doesn't mean to say that, but she's let down her guard ever so slightly so accidentally reveals more than she means to, and it's not until after she says it that she realizes she's said more than she should have. I have seen some actresses play the line intentionally instead, as a sort of deliberate bait to Bill, and for me, that's too calculating for someone as seemingly naive and sweet as Sophie. Amanda does play the line not as something she didn't mean to say but rather as something she is well aware that she is saying, but her delivery and expression are very coy and shy when she says it, so it's not bait per se but a sort of hope that she's tossing out to Bill, so even though the overall intention is not what I normally like, she does manage to pull off the delivery so that it still works for me.

One curious observation I had is that Amanda's credit in the main billing is later than I would expect. Yeah, Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan get top billing, and Stellan Skarsgard, Julie Walters and Colin Firth are billed above her since they're established actors. Christine Baranski is last, but the last position is sometimes used as a position of honor when there's a large ensemble, so that makes sense too. But Amanda is also billed after Dominic Cooper, who plays Sky. I would say Sky is a minor lead in the film, but Sophie is definitely a much bigger part of the story and has much more to do in the story, and while I haven't heard of the actor before, I also don't get the idea that he's very well known generally, so I'm just surprised her credit comes after his, especially since the credits aren't in alphabetical order.

Yeah, I know, most people don't even notice little stuff like this. Yeah, I know, I'm odd because I do.

I'm amused that the husband's approval of Amanda comes partly from the fact that she's blonde. Even though the song isn't sung during the course of the film proper, there's a line in "Thank You For The Music" about being "the girl with golden hair". The song is sung in the show itself, so it always annoys the husband when the actress playing Sophie is a brunette instead of a blonde.

Here's a short video of Amanda practicing "Thank You For The Music". And here's a short interview with Amanda talking about her love of ABBA songs. She's actually very cute here with her enthusiasm.


When I heard that Pierce Brosnan was cast as Sam, it made sense to me because his good looks and attitude would certainly work for Sam's character, and I was fine with his acting performance. I get the impression, though, that they basically overlooked his singing ability and hired him anyway. In my opinion, his singing is the weakest of everyone in the film, which is a bit unfortunate since he's the leading man. You don't notice as much on songs where he's singing with other people, but his solos on "S.O.S.", and especially the very beginning of the song, are very jarring. He seems to be trying too hard in trying to emote both musically and facially, and I think his expressions are quite odd in the close-ups on him during the first verse of the song. It was interesting to me that they cut the song "Knowing Me, Knowing You" from the film version, a song that's quite powerful in the show and comes right after Sam is questioning Sophie about whether she really should be getting married, especially after Sam witnesses a disagreement between Sophie and Sky. I'd be curious to know whether the song was cut before or after he was cast, as I don't think he would have been able to handle that song at all. I did find it interesting, though, that he was basically given a solo in the dinner scene at the end with "When All Is Said And Done". I think he did better on that than on "S.O.S.", so it might have been that the notes and pitch were easier for him to hit on the later song. I kept trying to figure out what was "wrong" with his singing, and one thing that occurred to me is that he's not singing with the English accent I might expect - instead, because he kind of slurs and mushes his words together, he almost sounds like you'd expect Alan Rickman to sound when he's singing, since he sort of mushes his words together when he's talking. Hmmm, I can't remember what Rickman sounded like in "Sweeney Todd", which he did sing in. Well, at least Brosnan didn't have that much singing to do, and it was only the one song where it was really obvious that he was weak in that department, unlike a certain other filmed musical where one of the leading male roles went to an actor who could by no means handle the singing, which was especially a problem because his character's whole enchantment was because of his beautiful voice and amazing musical ability. Umm, yeah, not so much in that case.


When I first heard that Colin Firth was cast as Harry, I laughed because I knew he would fit so well. I've been a fan of his since "Circle of Friends", and I really liked him in "Bridget Jones' Diary", "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "Love, Actually". He was very good as Harry, as I expected him to be.

They downplayed a little bit of Harry bristling at having previously been told that he's too stuffy and him basically going back to the days when he was spontaneous and free, when he knew Donna. One major change they made with Harry is that in the show, he has a partner, so it's more of a surprise/shock when we learn later in the story that his partner is male - Nigel. In the film, he is presented as being unattached, though the reaction was still there when he mentioned that Donna was the last woman that he loved, and they cut to a guy he obviously has hooked up with while on the island - I did love that shot, though. There's an odd scene earlier in the movie where Bill seems to think that Harry is coming out to him, while Harry assumes that something is going on between Bill and another woman. (I think Harry is referring to Rosie, but there were times that I almost thought he might be referring to Sophie, so that was odd.) His being single also kind of throws off the line sung by Sophie in "Our Last Summer" where Sophie mentions him being a family man. I would have preferred that the story was that he was attached but his significant other has recently left him, and so you could almost interpret his acceptance of the invitation that he thought was from Donna as maybe being sorry that he lost track of her and maybe he was coming to rekindle the relationship. They managed to convey that Harry has an SO in the show without revealing the person's gender or even making it obvious that they were specifically avoiding stating the SO's gender, so I don't think that would have been a problem for the film.

In the show, "Our Last Summer" is a duet by Harry and Donna, when he comes to see her to give her the check, and he actually sings part of "Thank You For The Music" soon after he arrives at the taverna, and it's the first connection made between him and Sophie, so when they were on the boat in the film, and he picks up his guitar, I was expecting him to sing "Thank You For The Music", so I was surprised when it turned out to be "Our Last Summer". I think he sounded great in the first couple of lines by himself, though I did enjoy the ensemble work on the song in the film, so I would have liked to have heard him sing a bit more rather than just as part of everyone else or a line or two in "Take A Chance On Me". Maybe in another film.


Another bit of perfect casting when I heard about it was Christine Baranski as Tanya, who is pretty much the character she played in the television series "Cybill". There are added bits in the show that rounded out Tanya's character a bit more that were omitted from the film, but she was still good and particularly spectacular in "Does Your Mother Know".


Both Stellan Skarsgard and Julie Walters were fine in the film, though they didn't have all that much to do. I think their characters are the least developed in the show anyway. "Take A Chance On Me" is done much differently - in the show, it's a duet between the two of them before the wedding starts, whereas in the film, it's after the wedding, in front of the entire wedding party and guests and eventually becomes an ensemble song.


Dominic Cooper was fine as Sky, and he did a really good job on "Lay All Your Love On Me", but unfortunately, in my mind, Sky will always be Timothy Ware. Sky was always a sort of forgettable character in the show until the first time I saw Ware, who was in the North America touring company of "Mamma Mia" at the time - he is no longer with them. His performance was just incredible. His delivery during a couple specific parts of the story (when Sophie asks him if he really thinks of his bachelor party as his last day of freedom and when Sky finds out that Sophie has invited her three potential fathers and breathed not a word of it to him) were just different from everyone else's that I'd seen, and it made Sky into a real character for me.


Sky and Sophie from the North America touring company.


The cast of the North America touring company celebrating an anniversary.


I found it interesting that in the show, the character of Eddie, one of Donna's employees, has quite a number of lines and is a minor named character, but he's pretty much just ensemble in the film. I don't think he's even referred to by name. I don't think Pepper is named either (he's the one Tanya plays with in "Does Your Mother Know"), but he has a bigger part in the movie than Eddie, whereas Eddie is really the bigger role in the show.

Oh, and there are cameos by the two male members of ABBA who wrote the songs - Benny Andersson is the piano player during the "Dancing Queen" segment and Bjorn Ulvaeus is dressed as a Greek god during the closing credits sequence.


thoughts on some of the songs


"Money, Money, Money" - The first song by Meryl Streep, where you can hear and see that she's right for the role of Donna. Nicely done.

"Mamma Mia" - I love this song, but I thought the choreography choices were a bit odd. Here's a segment from the song, which shows some of the odd choreography I mentioned. The song as done in the show is much more sedate, with Donna making her way among the three men, all of whom are frozen, and she is incredulous at their presence but disturbed most of all by Sam. She is obviously much more frenzied here, and there's not quite the same feeling of longing. You can also see the "heads popping up" moment that I mentioned earlier, which is mitigated by the fact that she is apparently unable to see them herself, so they're really not a part of the story.

"Dancing Queen" - Loved how they played this - Donna joining in was much more natural. In the show, Donna pretty much wants nothing to do with this and then just pops up and joins in. In the film, Donna is mostly hiding, but she's peeking at Rosie and Tanya, and you can see her concealing a smile, so you're not surprised when she jumps in. I love the pied piper moment as they run through the town, gathering women along the way, and I love that they end up on the dock, all singing and dancing. The ending with Donna pushing Rosie and Tanya in the water and then jumping in herself was too funny.

"Our Last Summer" - As I mentioned, it's in a different spot than in the show, and I would have liked to have heard just Colin Firth sing more of the song, but I did love the scenery and the bits showing Sophie bonding with each of her potential fathers.

"Lay All Your Love On Me" - Loved this segment - even more sexy than in the show. Doesn't hurt that Amanda is so beautiful and Dominic is definitely not hard on the eyes. This is a little segment of the song, where you can see how good Amanda is, both in acting and singing. The very end of the segment also shows the boys showing up for their part of the song. In the show, the boys arrive on stage in their flippers to kidnap Sky, so I was wondering how that was going to work in the movie. And then I saw the shot of them swimming in from the ocean. Perfect, and too much fun. There were more boys in the film than on stage, so the line of them in their flippers was even funnier. And yes, much of the same choreography.

"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" - Love this segment in the show and loved that they pulled it off well in the film without it being quite as stylized as in the show, which I don't think would have worked in the movie.

"Voulez-Vous" - This segment also keeps much of what's in the show, which I also love, especially since you actually get to see Sophie's perspective, something you can't do in the show. Love the choreography. Here's a segment of the song being shot. I hope there's lots of this kind of footage on the DVD.

"S.O.S." - I've already mentioned how much Pierce Brosnan's performance on this song so does not do it for me. It's especially jarring once Meryl Streep starts to sing, since she does such a good job, which makes it even more obvious that he really can't handle it.

"Does Your Mother Know" - Love, love, love this song. Love that they captured the fun and flirty in the film. The towel diaper is new though and not done in the show!

"Slipping Through My Fingers" - This is the song that brings me to tears every time during the show, with Sophie just sitting at the makeup table as Donna helps her get ready. I can't even describe why it has that effect on me since I don't have a daughter or any kids at all, but the lyrics are just so affecting, and even when there's been a Donna in a show that I haven't necessarily loved, they always nail this song. In the film though, when Sophie asks Donna to help her get ready, I was confused because in the show, she does that when she's mostly ready - all she needs is her hair put up and her dress put on. In the film, she hasn't even started, so I didn't know how that was going to work. Oh my goodness. The sequence starting with Donna just looking at Sophie, and the montage of them bonding, playing, having fun, Sophie sitting on Donna's lap like a little girl as Donna paints her toenails - not to mention Meryl Streep's dead on performance of the song - I was a wreck. I also liked the little coda later when Sophie's in her wedding gown making her way up the hill. This is the ending part of the song where Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried duet on the song. And yes, even just this bit brings me to tears. I also love the little exchange between them at the beginning of the clip - Meryl Streep is terrific in that little segment, and I like the two of them looking into the mirror together. On stage, they're facing each other.

"The Winner Takes It All" - This is a very powerful song in the film, and Meryl Streep does a really good job with it. (In the pre-recordings of this song, she apparently did the entire song in just one take.) She doesn't take on some of the more extended higher notes, but she still manages to very well handle a few of the difficult parts.

"When All Is Said And Done" - This is actually not an ABBA song that I'm familiar with, and it's not used in the stage show. It was done well, and I'll have to find the original sometime to hear what it sounds like.

"Take A Chance On Me" - The abrupt change in both Rosie and Bill with regard to relationships has never really sat well with me, so the surprise coupling always seemed forced to me. Practicality isn't really high on the list in musicals since people don't generally burst into song and proceed to dance in unison, but I thought the dancing/walking on the tables was a bit odd. In the show, they make a mess of the chairs, but that's when no one else is there. The water bursting through was also kind of odd, but it's a fun sequence nevertheless.

"I Have A Dream" - This is the song that brackets the beginning and end of the show, so I'm glad they kept that for the film. It was a nice background to Sky and Sophie's departure.

"Thank You For The Music" - It's too bad the song didn't make it into the film proper, but it's actually the perfect song to play over the end credits, and I see it as a sort of tribute to the writers of the songs used in the film from the filmmakers and cast. Amanda also does a terrific job with this song.


I managed to refrain from buying the soundtrack until after I'd seen the film so that I'd be hearing these versions of the songs for the first time when I saw the film. I am particularly happy that I generally love all the new versions because I now have a CD of the show versions of the songs that I can actually listen to because I *hate* the London cast recording of the show. However, the soundtrack does not have all of the songs in the movie, perhaps because of how much they can put on one CD. "Chiquitita" and "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do" aren't on the soundtrack. They don't have "Waterloo" on the soundtrack either, but I'm used to that because they didn't put the ending "concert" songs on the CD of the Broadway show either. And, of course, you don't get Donna humming "Fernando". ;)

I do find it interesting that they have "The Name of the Game" on the CD even though Sophie doesn't sing it in the film. They changed that part so that even though they kept the lines before and after, she didn't have the song itself. I'm wondering if they actually did shoot the scene and it ended up being cut from the film and will show up on the DVD. Or, since I heard that they recorded the songs before they shot the film, maybe they thought they were going to do a scene so had her do the song but ended up cutting the scene even before any of it was shot. In any case, I do love this version of the song, and Amanda does a good job with it. However, while I love how it's arranged, there's something about it that almost makes it not quite right for a daughter to sing to a father. I think it might be the underlying bass line, which gives it a sexier feel. I'm sure Amanda would have been able to pull it off with her acting and expressions, but in just listening to the song, it almost is a throwback to the original meaning of the song. [OK, I wrote all that and then did some more research and apparently, they did shoot the sequence but ended up cutting it out of the film, so I'm expecting to see it on the DVD.]

From the Broadway show, in addition to "Knowing Me, Knowing You", they also omitted "One of Us" and "Under Attack". I've never been a huge fan of the "Under Attack" segment, so I was glad they didn't shoehorn it in, since I had no idea how that would work. I'm sorry "One of Us" didn't make it because I think Meryl Streep would have done it well. Maybe they decided Donna already had too many brooding scenes and didn't want yet another one.

I was disappointed not to see "Thank You For The Music" included in the soundtrack, but when we actually listened to the CD, we found a surprise. OK, actually, the husband found it. They actually do have "Thank You For The Music" on the CD as a hidden track. The last song listed is "I Have A Dream" (track 17), which we were listening to, and as it ended, the husband said to just let it keep playing. The track kept going but was playing many seconds of silence, and then eventually, it starts playing "Thank You For The Music", not as another track but just as a continuation of track 17. I'm glad they did include that song, even though it takes a bit of work to find.


Here's an article I found that has a lot of information about the movie and the show. The formatting is a bit odd and makes it difficult to go through, but it's well worth the digging.

Here are a few quotes I want to highlight:

[Regarding] the production's choice for Donna: "We had always leant towards Meryl Streep playing the lead character. It was beyond joyful that she said yes to the offer immediately. We knew she had seen the show on Broadway a few years ago, as she'd written a rather wonderful letter to the cast, telling them how much she loved the show and how she'd wanted to get up on stage and feel what it was like to be part of Mamma Mia! Like schoolgirls, we kept this letter."

"We dreamt of asking Meryl to play Donna," says director Lloyd. "We knew she sang; we knew she wanted to do a musical. She combines everything that is required. She's one of those unique actors who can laugh the world's laughs and cry the world's tears. That's what Mamma Mia! needed, and we have it in her."

Streep had indeed seen the show in New York and recounts, "It was pure joy." She was drawn to the role for its humanity, its spirit and, of course, the music. "The songs are timeless," says Streep. "They just enter your body. When I came to learn them, I found I knew every single one. They have amazing hooks and great melodies."

Streep also responded to the fact that women had created Mamma Mia! and this would be a challenging, physical role that demanded a great deal of stamina. Among other moves, she would have to scale the side of a 40-foot building and sing "Mamma Mia" while balancing precariously on a rooftop. Too, she would sing "Dancing Queen" while performing a series of stunts, which included sliding down banisters to jumping off a jetty and into the sea.

Explains Craymer: "Finding Sophie was a huge task. She had to be impish, but innocent at the same time. She had to be fun, and she needed to sing really well, of course. Amanda ticked every box; she is our ideal Sophie."

Seyfried, known to audiences from her standout roles as "weather girl" Karen in Mean Girls and as Sarah Henrickson, daughter of a polygamist in HBO's Big Love, had previous singing and dance experience. But she would be up against a veritable who's who of young Hollywood eager to land the part. Seyfried describes being chosen for the role of Sophie as "every girl's dream."

The auditioning process was intense. Up against a number of young women, Seyfried's astonishing vocals distinguished her. Recalls Lloyd of the audition: "Amanda has that completely winning, radiant warmth and an almost childlike youthfulness. She also has a fabulously natural voice that made Benny and Björn ask her to sing tracks she wasn't even singing in this film. She walked in and, from the first note she sang, you could feel everybody in the room go, 'This is it.'"

During her audition process, Seyfried saw the show in Las Vegas and was hooked. "It was fantastic," she relates. Like others, she acknowledges the timeless quality of ABBA's songs and relished the opportunity of performing them. Seyfried also admits how excited she was at the prospect of following in the footsteps of the select actresses who had played opposite Streep: "She's incredible. She's so aware of how people might react to her presence and did her best to make me feel comfortable. I feel I have learned so much from the opportunity of working opposite her."

...

Amanda Seyfried also had Lowe, Ulvaeus, Andersson and Lloyd present during her recordings, but it couldn't have been more of a freeing experience. "It was so exciting and surreal to work with them. They didn't direct me too much," she says. "I had a tone and sound they liked, so they just let me be free with it."
Lowe points out that many of the songs Seyfried has to sing for the film are tricky, such as the complicated phrasing in parts of "I Have a Dream." "The line 'I believe in angels' falls on a break and sits in an awkward place in the song," he provides. "Some women at the audition just couldn't hit it. Thank the Lord we found Amanda, who just came in and did it. When she walked out of her audition, the camera operator and the sound guy just went, 'This is Sophie.' And they hadn't spoken all day!"

See, I'm totally dead on the mark with my gushing over Amanda Seyfried!


Unlike with the show, I only really plan to see the movie again in theatres one more time, and then I'll wait for the DVD release, happily having the CD to listen to in the meantime.


Did you really make it all the way through? Wow, I'm impressed! I probably owe you dinner or something.