Mamma Mia: Thank You for the Music

Last Friday night, Jessica, Becky and I had dinner and a movie and got to see the much-anticipated Mamma Mia. Now everybody knows that I love ABBA. I do, I do, I do, I do...and so naturally, you would think that I would enjoy the musical movie featuring LOTS of their original songs.

However, when friends have asked for my review of the film, I've been quietly responding, "I loved the music." And that is the truth, I really did. The music was excellent. Amanda Seyfried, who played Meryl Streep's daughter, had an incredible voice. Meryl Streep did all right. I like Meryl Streep, but I've seen her do lots better acting. Pierce Brosnan did all right, although he was just nice to look at. Ditto on Colin Firth. Christine Baranski surprised me with her voice, as did Julie Walters.

I liked some of the chemistry and interaction between the characters. I enjoyed trying to determine which song was coming up next based on the dialogue. I loved the beautiful Greek island location, and that romantic church on the hilltop was indescribably picturesque.

BUT I don't have much else that is good to say about the film. Call me a prude or what you will, but I just think that a constant barrage of sexual innuendo is tiring. It was trashy in some ways, and maybe I felt it more so because it was on the big screen. I left the theatre feeling a bit dirty and not at all refreshed or in my happy place like ABBA songs usually leave me.

I know ABBA's music is all about romance, sex and love. I get that. I knew I wasn't going to see another Jane Austen book brought to life on film, only with ABBA songs thrown in along the way. So I expected the film to be a bit oversexed, but not quite like this. I found it raunchy more like a Florida spring break movie. I think I was naively looking for something cleaner and brighter.

I kept looking for that nugget, that ounce of truth or wisdom that the main character is looking for, that moral that the film is striving to move the audience toward. Mamma Mia doesn't have that. Some would argue that the young girl's search for herself and her father(s) is just that -- that nugget or moral she is striving for. Or perhaps others would argue that as the film ends and the young girl and her boyfriend decide NOT to get married and instead travel the globe together, that she gained wisdom there by not just getting married because it was the thing to do. OK, maybe?!?, but it's still a hard sell for me. I guess in a perfect world, I wanted more.

Thank you for the music, but I liked little else.