Mamma Mia: Officially the worst film I’ve ever seen.
Another chance for me to save you from painful suffering, and this time I don’t think I’ll get much argument.
God knows why this was such a success. Well, actually, I do know, it was all about nostalgia. But if you want to reminisce about the 70s stick ABBA Gold on, don’t make a terrible movie!
There are moments of this film which almost redeem it, the plot, for example, is quite good and the script is funny at times. Unfortunately, I couldn’t notice much of this because I was watching the film through my fingers with an expression of abject horror! Why such an extreme reaction? Pierce Brosnan. Singing. Or at least he thought he was. And Colin Firth doing….well I don’t know what he was doing but it wasn’t pretty.
Now I’m not an ABBA fan, and I really dislike this wave of greatest hits albums being turned into musicals, but I decided to give this film a fair try (mostly because it was Christmas). In fact, turning ABBA hits into a musical worked more successfully than any other attempt I’ve heard, although I will never forgive whoever thought “Chiquitita” being sung in a toilet made sense. This wasn’t my main concern though, what had me diving behind the sofa was the woeful performances given by almost every member of the cast.
I’ve already mentioned Brosnan and Firth’s pathetic vocal renditions, which could almost be excused if it hadn’t caused them to forget how to act. Brosnan especially seems so caught up in becoming the next Bruce Springsteen (try Billy Mack) that he loses any (limited) credibility he ever had. It would have been easy enough to dub the actors, although I suppose this would have caused criticism, but after 10 minutes I was begging for mercy. Meryl Streep is better than I would have expected, and she does put in a good performance, but there were some seriously flat notes in “The Winner Takes It All” which could have easily been tweaked could the sound editor have been bothered enough.
Bad singing aside, there isn’t much going for this movie, (besides the ever-wonderful Julie Walters). I get that it’s supposed to be fun and light hearted, but you get the feeling that no one invilved in making this movie was really committed to the job, they were just mucking about with some cameras and a few million dollars. This film is definitely aimed nowhere near my generation. Even the young couple who the film is supposedly about get barely any screen time compared to our parenting team. This is a film for the mums, which is fine, but you’d think that Hollywood could come up with something a bit less tragic.
Everyone knows that Dads dancing at a wedding is a pathetic site. So why make a movie about it?
Oh, thanks for the warning! I was thisclose to grab it off of the Blockbuster shelf but settled with The Soloist instead (which wasn’t very good, but probably superb compared to this one?). So even the great Meryl Streep can fall flat every once in a while, huh, glad she’s human =)
I posted something about NINE with Daniel Day-Lewis the other day, now THAT’s a musical I gotta see.
rtm
August 28, 2009
It’s all about sparing those few hours.
It’s truly horrible so I’m happy to help. Haven’t seen the soloist so can’t compare, but since I’d rather stick pins in my eyes than see Mamma Mia again I reckon you made the right choice.
Flat is exactly the word for it. My poor ears.
Yeah I’ve been hearing about that. Not to be confused with animated 9. I’ll check the post out….
Katie
August 28, 2009
When it comes to Pierce Brosnan or Colin Firth’s singing, I’d agree wholeheartedly about the pins in the eyes. But I hung in there for Amanda Seyfried because she is just so ridiculously talented — she can sing, she can dance, she can act. I just love that girl.
mcarteratthemovies
September 22, 2009
You don’t really get to see much of her in the film though, and since its the only film I’ve seen with her in I didn’t really get round to forming an opinion.
Katie
September 22, 2009
Pierce brosnan is horrible in this movie. i’m always laughing when he start to sing.. it’s ridiculous. But Sky is Hot
And I love Colin Firth even if i know that he could be better.
mymi
October 9, 2009
Pierce Brosnan makes my skin crawl. I don’t even know why he just always has.
I’m not sure I’ve forgiven Colin yet…
Katie
October 10, 2009
I read that he was to eager do a Neighbours appearence :O. Sounds a bit dodgy to me. There’s a part of me that kind of wishes this is true lol.
Frederick Kulish
January 7, 2010
O dear god no
Katie
January 8, 2010
i love pierce brosnan!!!!
mills
February 17, 2010
[...] who has read my review of Mamma Mia may have noticed I’m not a fan. In fact, he is responsible for me actively avoiding all [...]
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July 16, 2011
I could not agree more with every point made in this article. I thought this was a terrible film – well shot perhaps with some nice touches but overall, really excruciating viewing. After all, its clear that Brosnan and Firth can’t sing and their scenes are not even charming. Just painful to watch and hear. Meryl can clearly make a ‘silk purse out of a sows ear’, being the great talent that she is. And she does – just. I agree – Julie Walters shines brightly as ever. Ultimately this is a sows ear that could never become a purse. Just how they could have let certain musical expressions remain in the final cut is a big mystery. I am shocked at how popular this movie is – its frankly a terrible picture. But clearly many people loved it and will think its amazing. The only question is – WHY?!
Kokino
January 14, 2012
Totally agree. Excruciating is the perfect word to describe it. Normally when I don’t like a popular film I can at least se the appeal but it completely escapes me why anyone would sit through this catalogue of horrors more than once!
Thanks for stopping by
Katie
January 14, 2012