Talkie Tuesday: Mamma Mia!

"I won't be muscled out by an ejaculation!"

Hello everyone!

So as you might have been able to tell from my several consecutive posts in previous weeks, my friends and I went to see Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again last Thursday! 

And URGH some movies, man.

Some movies just deserve to be viewed over and over and OVER again.

This is one of them.

But then of course, I'm slightly OCD on this end and I can't just review the second movie without going into the bones of the first one.

Because every great story has a beginning, especially if it's a great sequel we're talking about.

This particular beginning happened ten years ago, under the very appropriate title of Mamma Mia!

Based on the stage production of the musical which brought to life ABBA songs like never seen before, this movie was a big summer success from the moment it hit cinemas back in 2008.

Why?

Well, the songs, for one. You can't NOT like ABBA songs! (I mean, you can, but there's no way you won't sing along in any event.)

And second, the cast.

Oh yes, it was a stellar cast right from the start which then led into a magical one for the second part, but we're here to talk about the film that spawned it all.

So buckle up, because for one night, and one night only, it's time for this review.

The movie opens with a night time shot of Amanda Seyfried, aka Sophie Sheridan, singing I Have A Dream while delivering three letters to a post box - one to Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan), one to Harry Bright (Colin Firth), and one to Bill Andersson (Stellan Skarsgard).

Why, you ask?

Well, girl's getting married soon, and she wants her father to give her away. Only problem is, she's figured out from her mother's diary (this covered with the song Honey, Honey) that there are THREE possible candidates for the role, and Sophie is sure that when she sees her dad, she'll know him the same second.

Meanwhile, as she's plotting behind her mother's back and the trio of men actually arrive and land on Bill's boat together (because seriously, the ferry to Kalokairi waits for no man), the actual mother is doing her own thing.

Mery Streep portrays Donna Sheridan in the movie and, as she explains to her friends Rosie (Julie Walters aka Mrs Weasley) and Tanya (Christine Baranski) through Money, Money, Money, the situation is currently tight, the hotel she runs on this small Greek island is kind of falling apart, but that's ok because her daughter's getting married to the love of her life!

Tanya does offer her a loan, but Donna says she's fine - of course the definition of 'fine' goes out the window when she finds her three former lovers in her goat shed.

Mamma Mia! indeed!

She sends them off while trying to figure out what to do, and finally admits to Rosie and Tanya, who used to sing together with her in their group Donna and the Dynamos, that she isn't sure WHO of the three is the actual father - Sam, Bill, or Harry? She kind of slept with all three of them in rapid succession twenty years ago and considering they have to deliver mail to the mainland by hand, I'd say a DNA test will take divine intervention from Zeus, and the Big Boss is busy.

So the girls take matters into their own hands, belt out Chiquitita to figure out what's even going on, and then help Donna feel better about her past and herself by launching into Dancing Queen, which is probably the most beloved musical number from the original movie.

Also included in this scene where men are left behind to hang from windows and carry their own goddamned firewood is Benny Andersson on the piano, accompanying the bouncy tune.

Anyway, with the three adult women kind of calm, Sophie leaves her own two best friends behind when she realizes the men have kind of escaped back to Bill's boat and are about to go sailing for a bit to make sure Donna cools down after seeing them. While she accompanies them, Sophie also learns more about her mother's past with the trio (Our Last Summer), while we as the audience try not to giggle too much at Colin Firth nicknamed Harry Head Banger.

Of course things keep getting more complicated, but at least Sophie and Sky (Dominic Cooper) are still going strong, getting some help from ridiculously buff men here for Sky's bachelor party and the wedding while they sing Lay All Your Love On Me (famously, this is the song which Cooper admitted to struggling with and having to fight throughout the entire thing, but kudos to you sir, because you sound AMAZING). The scene then finally shifts to Sophie's own pre-wedding party where we FINALLY get to see Donna and the Dynamos!

Super Trouper being what it is, Sophie isn't the only one squealing by the time the three women start singing.

And of course because this is just the kind of thing to go wrong, the supposedly separate parties for men and women become one HUGE Greek-style party, and I'm sitting here wondering if I can have a group dance to Voulez-Vous when my wedding rolls around.

But typically, this is where the plot also thickens, because Sophie did NOT, in fact, recognize her father immediately, and now ALL THREE OF THEM believe they're her dad and want to give her away. Talk about a complication worth some passing out!

Time to take matters into female hands - Rosie and Tanya as well as Sophie's friends both agree to grab the men, swap notes, and figure out what's going on. So while Harry and Bill have a confusing conversation NOBODY understands (I think Bill talks about Sophie and Harry about being gay, but don't hold your breath) and Bill shows off those cheeky tattoos to Rosie, Sam and Donna finally have a moment.

As realized in the beginning, Sam was the only one of the trio Donna actually fell in love with in the sense that if he had stayed, they'd have been married with a gaggle of kids by now. But unfortunately he was engaged at the time and had to go back, which isn't an easy discussion to have now they're both adults, and SOS doesn't help much either ... but it does give us some lovely Greek choirs for the chorus. And some broody back-to-back with a wall in-between from Streep and Brosnan.

But speaking of Greeks. Sky's best man is having the time of his life after Harry abandons Tanya to pedal herself back on her own, and the three-time divorcee needs to resort to Does Your Mother Know to hold the youngling at bay. She's old enough to be his mother! (But she's still flattered, because it's Tanya.)

Since it's finally the wedding day, however, Sophie gets her act together and asks DONNA to give her away, to hell with three potential dads, and we're privileged to Meryl Streep's emotion-filled Slipping Through My Fingers as she helps her daughter get ready for the ceremony.

The dads are having none of that, however, which serves Streep her second chance to really shine as she belts out The Winner Takes It All on the cliff (fun fact, the microphone couldn't even hear her sometimes because of the wind during the shoot).

Meanwhile, Brosnan just kind of stands there with an 'okay?' expression.

We're with you, Mr. Bond, we're speechless, too.

At church, Sophie finally realizes she doesn't NEED her father - or the wedding! She can have THREE fathers instead (to which the trio enthusiastically agrees and Hermes the messenger god can relax since he won't have to expedite any DNA tests) and she and Sky should just go travel and see the world!

But wait! What about the church and the feast?

Not to worry, Sam's got it covered, proposing with a hearty rendition of I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do and FINALLY getting to marry the woman of his dreams - aka Donna!

He also gets the chance to showcase some beautiful vocal skills in When All Is Said And Done (and his cheeky side, but then again in 2008 we ALL agreed he and Donna were definitely NOT too old for sex) and the feast is happily underway. Happily ever after?

Not quite!

We've forgotten about Rosie!

The lone wolf finally tosses aside her inhibitions and gets onto the tables to make sure Bill will hear every word of Take A Chance On Me (even if he tries to escape her by a ) carrying her under his arm, b ) crawling along a rooftop and c ) hanging from a drain). It works, and the duo are just in time to join everyone as the fountain which had always been rumoured to be around errupts in the middle of the courtyard (probably Aphrodite getting in on all the love being shared then and there, giving the rest of the Olympians cavities).

NOW the movie can finally wind down, with Donna and the three dads saying goodbye to Sophie and Sky as they set off.

But just in case you feel sad, you also get treated to nothing less but Waterloo in an after-movie scene with EVERYONE dressed in those sparkly ABBA outfits and having the time of their lives.

Finally, yes, FIN!

As you can probably tell, this was a movie I THOROUGHLY enjoyed, just as much as the second (review to come next Tuesday). Three songs either didn't make it to the movie or to the soundtrack (Gimme Gimme Gimme, The Name of the Game and Thank You For The Music) but basically what you hear is what you get - and everyone did a fantastic job! Sure they're not singers, but I'm sure even Björn Ulvaeus (masquerading as one of the Greek deities at the end overlooking the party) would agree that they performed to the best of their abilities.

The scenery was gorgeous, the acting was fun, the jokes were hysterical.

And above all else, you can FEEL the pure enjoyment and love the cast and crew had for the project, shining out of every line and verse.

That's pretty much all you could ever ask for, and more.

xx

*images and video not mine