Mamma Mia! The Movie (Two-Disc Special Edition (2008, Universal)
purchase this DVD (Amazon)

I freely admit I’m not the target audience for this movie. Being without a vagina, an attraction to men, and/or a fondness for the music of ABBA, I went into Mamma Mia! The Movie pretty much figuring that I’d have some problems with it. I’m not a really big fan of musicals, actually; all things being equal, Jason “I Love Showtunes” Hare would be the Popdose staffer reviewing this for you.

Still, I’m capable of objectively assessing a piece of entertainment, even if it isn’t meant for me, and even if I don’t care for ABBA’s music, I am a fan of the lovely Amanda Seyfried, whose work as the sane daughter on Big Love I’ve long appreciated. How bad could Mamma Mia! be?

I will tell you.

I finished watching this movie almost 24 hours ago, and I’m still sort of awestruck by it, because Mamma Mia! is both the most painful and most fun movie I’ve seen in a very long time. The acting is so over the top that it reeks of ham — but the actors’ giddiness is all part of an undeniably infectuous sense of fun. The musical numbers are shoehorned into something that vaguely resembles a plot, from a distance, if you squint — but you’ll still be humming them after the movie’s over. Every single moment of Mamma Mia! is absolutely ludicrous…but it also contains some of the most beautifully filmed sequences I’ve seen in a very long time.

In short, Mamma Mia! is a great viewing option if you’re drunk, or in a bad mood, but if you’re looking for a movie that makes a lick of sense — even in the context of musicals, which frequently require the viewer to turn off large chunks of his or her analytic mind — it will most likely annoy you to the point of distraction, especially if you’re prone to difficulty with things like a chorus line of scuba-flippered men, or plot points that suddenly appear or vanish, or the sight of Colin Firth in a slow-motion topless dance. (more…)