Opening 17 Jul 2008
Directed by:
Phyllida Lloyd
Writing credits:
Catherine Johnson
Principal actors:
Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Stellan Skarsgård, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth
Mamma Mia! What fun! I want to sing, I want to dance. The audience is applauding.
Mamma Mia! the movie is the feature-film adaptation of the successful stage musical Mamma Mia! featuring hit songs by the Swedish pop band ABBA. Donna (Meryl Streep) runs a small hotel on an island in Greece and is the single mother of a 20-year-old daughter, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried). They are preparing for Sophie's wedding which must be perfect. Sophie has a secret wish: She wants her father to give her away at the wedding. There's just one little problem: She doesn't know who her father is. Reading her mother's diary, she discovers one, two, three possible fathers and behind her mother's back invites them all to her wedding. Surely, once Sophie meets the three men, her heart will tell her who her dad is. When Donna's ex-lovers Sam (Pierce Brosnan), Harry (Colin Firth) and Bill (Stellan Skarsgård) really arrive, Sophie's heart doesn't have any clue. It gets complicated, but there is no problem which can't be solved with an ABBA song, at least not in this movie. By the way, in the German version the songs are in English with German subtitles, and the translation is really good.
All actors fit their characters well. Meryl Streep gives a great performance and carries the film. Not everyone is happy with Pierce Brosnan's singing, but this film isn't about beautiful voices, it's about the feeling, and the feeling is always right. This well-directed, well-acted, well-choreographed film with a perfect cast and by director Phyllida Lloyd and writer Catherine Johnson has one serious flaw - it's too short (108 min). But then you can always go again. (Christa Greiff)
