Movie of the Week: 'Mama Mia!'

First Released: July 18, 2008
DVD Release: on sale now
Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Main Characters:
Sophie (Amanda Seyfried)
Donna (Meryl Streep)
Bill Anderson (Stellan Skarsgard)
Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan)
Harry Bright (Colin Firth)
Tanya (Christine Baranski)
Rosie (Julie Walters)
Sky (Dominic Cooper)
Runtime: 1 hour, 48 minutes
Rated: PG-13 for sexual innuendoes

“Mamma Mia!” originated as a Broadway play that opened in 1999, and features the music of 1970s Swedish pop group ABBA. The two “B’s” in the group, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson were heavily involved in the play’s production.

The play is about a young woman named Sophie who is getting married in her mother’s villa in Greece. She has never known who her father is, so when she comes upon her mother’s old diary, she discovers that there might be three possible men that are her father. Being excited about this prospect, Sophie invites the men—Bill Anderson, Harry Bright, and Sam Carmichael—to Greece for her wedding. When Sophie’s mom, Donna, finds out about the invite, she is hesitant to face the men with whom she had unpleasant last experiences with. During the course of the film, Sophie tries desperately to find out which man is her father, but is having difficulty because she sees elements of each of them in herself. By the end of the film, Sophie still doesn’t know who her father is (Donna is not even sure herself), but values each relationship she has made.

While the story in the screenplay is interesting, this film/play would be nothing without the amazing ABBA music. My knowledge of the group’s music came about a bit unconventionally. I was in elementary school and was watching the Disney channel. A music video of “Mamma Mia” came on, and I was instantly drawn to the easy to dance to lyrics and beats. I knew I had to find out who was singing the song, and thus I came to experience A*Teens, another Swedish pop group who decided to cover ABBA songs with their debut CD, “The ABBA Generation.” (At the time, though, I had no idea who the real ABBA was and thought the songs were recorded originally by the A*Teens.)

This movie had all of my favorite songs: “Voulez-Vous,” “Lay All Your Love on Me,” “S.O.S,” and the wildly popular “Mamma Mia” and “Dancing Queen.” All of the main characters had songs to sing, and all of the actors did their own singing. This proved well for the women, especially Meryl Streep, whose character Donna was part of an ABBA-like women’s disco group with her friends Tanya and Rosie. For the men, however, this proved a bit disastrous. While Dominic Cooper, who played Sophie’s fiancé Sky, did well in his beachside duet with Amanda Seyfried’s Sophie during “Lay All Your Love on Me,” Skarsgard, Firth, and especially Brosnan did not fare well when all performed in “Our Last Summer.” Their voices were garbled and more of a mumble. (Rumors have it that Brosnan apparently wanted his voice to be dubbed by someone else, but since all of the other actors did their own singing, he also had to do his.)

Less than perfect voices aside (even though worse voices have made albums), this film was a very good fix for my ABBA craving. I only wish I could see the real Broadway play, but that’s for my next visit to New York. (For my first New York trip review, see tomorrow’s post.)

I give “Mamma Mia!” ***1/2 out of ****

Movie Favorites: 'Little Miss Sunshine'

Directors: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

First Released: August 18, 2006

Main Characters:

Olive (Abigail Breslin)

Sheryl (Toni Collette)

Richard (Greg Kinnear)

Grandpa (Alan Arkin)

Dwayne (Paul Dano)

Frank (Steve Carrell)

Runtime: 1 hour, 41 minutes

Rated: R for language, some sex and drug content

"Little Miss Sunshine" is why I prefer indie movies to big budget blockbusters: they can produce a film that I will laugh at consistently every time I watch it. This type of film relies more on the humor of the characters than slapstick tricks that big budget films do.

The film is about a family of characters who could, at the very least, be described as dysfunctional. There's the dad, who is a motivational speaker with a mildly successful nine-step program to success, a heroin-addicted grandfather, a son who has taken a vow of silence after reading the works of Nietzche, a gay uncle who has tried to unsuccessfully commit suicide, a chubby little girl who longs to compete in beauty pageants, and a mom who is trying to hold the whole family together. Yes, these characters seem very oddball, and perhaps the typical family does not have this much dysfunction. However, to me at least, these characters are very endearing.

Though with all of their quirks they may not seem like they would get along very easily, they end up rallying together during a roadtrip from New Mexico to California so little Olive can compete in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. (You see, Olive had placed second in the regional contest, Little Miss Chili Pepper, but when the winner, who was originally set to go to Little Miss Sunshine, was forced out because of diet pill use, Olive was able to take her place). Not all of the family members wanted to go on the trip with Olive and her parents, especially Dwayne, the moody teenager. However, Dwayne could not be the only one to take care of his uncle, post-suicidal Frank, while the others went on the trip, so the two had to go along. Grandpa, who had cleared his mind long enough to teach Olive a rather interesting (as you will find at the end of the film) dance routine insists he has to go along because he taught Olive her moves.

The family, who is on a budget due to Richard's failing nine-step program, cannot afford to fly to California, so they take their rickety yellow VW bus on the trip. The bus constantly breaks down, providing for the usual roadtrip movie hilarity. However, it is more how these dysfunctional characters handle these breakdowns and the stress of making it to California on time that provides the real meat of this film.

Because these characters provide such a hilarious, but heartwarming soul to this film, I give "Sunshine" ****/****