Monday, July 28, 2008

Mama Mia that stinks!

Just got back from seeing the movie Mama Mia at the Crossroads 20 in Cary (or is it Raleigh?).  Mama Mia stars Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Stellan Skarsgard.  It is the story of an ex-hippie who, as a single mom, raised her daughter on a Greek island.  At 20, her daughter, played by Amanda Seyfried, is getting married on the island and has invited the three men who her mother was involved with 20 years and 9 months before, so she can find out which one of them is her father.  Produced by ABBA's original songwriters, it is the movie adaptation of a successful musical which regurgitates all of ABBA's old songs.

The musical might have had a chance except for the fact that it was cast using geriatric actresses and actors that could better have played the young bride's grandmother and great aunts rather than mother and friends.  The entire cast, with the exception of Amanda Seyfried and her boyfriend, are all played by people who have been long time members of AARP. I mean come on, Meryl Streep is 58. Can we believe that she was a "hippie" traveling Europe 20 years ago at 38?

I'm not against age.  Heck, I'm in my 50's, but play the right part.  

The scene where Meryl comes out as a rock star in tights singing with her Estelle Getty look alike friend and another gal, I jumped with shock.  I'm sure if I eat late tonight I will see that scene in my nightmare.

By the way, Pierce Brosnan cannot sing, but I will have to hand it to Meryl that she has a beautiful voice.

Check here for a favorable review (written in San Francisco)

Click here for the movie web site.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much for the compliment on my singing. But thank you very little for telling everyone how old I am! As for the stretch on the hippie-based time line, it's a little thing called literary license. (Kind of like how my movie made it onto a blog on Law, Politics, and Sports)

giraffedesign said...

Wow. I never was a fan of ABBA's music; maybe it was too old for my tastes; maybe it just sounded like muzak. But I gotta say, the trailers for this film version of the successful play looks too fun to pass up. I guess I'll just have to suspend my disbelief as to the age issues and go with the flow.