Review of Mamma Mia! (2008) by Darryl K — 05 Feb 2012

I haven't seen a movie this unenjoyable in a long time. Even Abba's entire catalog of catchy tunes can't save it. The problem here is, some musicals just don't translate to film. Especially this one.

The concept of Mamma Mia is that it is a story created around Abba's catchiest songs. As such the story is secondary. In a stage musical, this doesn't matter. People go to see the performance.

Story, staging, etc are secondary because of the limitations inherent to the stage. In a film, much more is expected. MM is a great example why you can't just port over any old musical to film. Because here, if you don't turn off your brain completely, it will be impossible to accept what happens story-wise.

Plain and simple things don't work. The bubblieness feels more empty than fun, the story tries to have conflict but inserts obstacles that are fake and incomprehensible, and a great deal of the time the lyrics of the songs don't really match the situation.

In the end, it feels like nothing more than a bunch of situations contrived to cram in all of Abba's greats (which hey, it is! But it shouldn't feel like that). And to top things off, the direction/acting/style is just trying too hard.

Everyone knows that anyone who tries too hard at something (humor, coolness, etc) usually turns out looking pathetic. And that is what happens here. MM is just trying so hard to be 'fun' that it isn't , ending up feeling like a very bad high school musical.

All of that said, I think I'd actually like to see the stage musical of this. But this film version is for die hard Abba fans only. All others stay away. Very far away.