"If your bachelor party involves dancing shirtless to ABBA music, I don't think the marriage is going to work out..."
~ John Stewart
You'll either love or hate "Mamma Mia", there is no "meh" in between. Lovers will be those of us who might be classified as ABBA enthusiasts (e.g. sang along to Voulez-Vous 8 hours a day on a 3,000 mile roadtrip through Canada with her best friend when we were 11 years old). Haters are pretty much everybody else.
THIS IS NOT A DATE MOVIE! Unless A) it's your birthday and you want to torture your husband for making you see "The Hills Have Eyes" or B) you have some suspicions about your new handsome, fit, unusually cultured and well-dressed boyfriend.
For the Lovers, it is both the most hilarious yet most pathetic thing you will ever see. There's something disturbing about watching people burst into a song shoe-horned into some bizarre context. The director may wish to note that in transitioning from stage to screen you generally need to tone the energy down a little lest everyone appear like they've been mainlining Greek coffee and PCP to ABBA music. And WHAT HAPPENED TO REMINGTON STEELE? Did he have a mini-stroke and suddenly believe he can sing? And the costumes... granted I was only born in '69, but I don't remember the 70's being quite so extremely extreme. I mean, Figure A above is actually pretty extreme.... for ABBA, but the costumes in "Mamma Mia" would've made Parliament Funkadelic, Edwina Monsoon, and Christian Lacroix put their heads in their hands groaning "Oh, stop! Just stop!" Anyway, be sure to sit through the credits as the Greek wedding/Oompah version of "Does your mother know that you're out?" is not to be missed.
For the Haters, spare yourselves! Go see "Hancock" or something!
