Shawn's Mamma Mia Review

2008 Movie #81 - Mamma Mia

I'm not really a big musical person, which is why it's surprising that in the last year there were actually 2 movies based on broadway musicals that I highly enjoyed, Hairspray and Sweeney Todd. I thougth maybe this was the beginning of a huge turn around for me and I would start to widely embrace the genre. Unfortunatly Mamma Mia kind of ruins that streak. I say kind of because it wasn't a bad movie, I just wasn't a huge fan of it. However it simply comes down to the fact that it really isn't my kind of movie.

I will say this, things do pick up after the first 20 minutes or so. The first part of the movie is the film equivalent of having someone shriek loudly into your face. At this point in time I wasn't even sure I would be able to handle this. Thankfully the volume is turned down a notch from that point on and I was able to enjoy it more.

Abba certainly isn't my favourite band, but I don't mind them and recognized a good chunk of the songs that appeared in the movie. The musical sequences are usually fun and well done, with a few standing out more than others (Mamma Mia and Dancing Queen immediatly spring to mind). Liking these songs is of course key to enjoying the movie, and a lot of the songs were pretty meh to me. Again, I'm just not the crowd this one movie is aiming towards.

The actors in this movie do a very good job, with maybe Pierce Brosnan being the weakest of the bunch. He wasn't quite as bad as I was expecting but he is definitely at the bottom of the Mamma Mia actor/singing ladder. Amanda Seyfriend is the surprise of the movie for me. I've always liked her, from her roles in Mean Girls, Veronica Mars and other things, so it's nice to see her in such an important lead role. I really hope this does a lot for her because I would love to see more of her in the future. Meryl Streep also does a great job, but are we really surprised? I mean the lady can act. Have you seen River Wild? That shit is awesome. The characters of Meryl Streep's friends however, kind of got on my nerves and I almost dreaded scenes they were in. I KNOW I'm going to be in the minority on that one but damn it, that's how I felt.

It's hard for me to even identify just what it was about this movie that prevented me from enjoying it more. I've said it a few times in this review already so I have to just go back to it...it simply wasn't a movie aimed at me. It's well made and will definitely be enjoyed by its target audience, thats just not me.

***/5