Review of Mamma Mia! (2008) by Brad F — 13 Apr 2013

Mamma Mia! is a pretty bad movie. The songs make no sense, they have no place in the story, and the characters and situations have been structured to be in impossible, annoyingly retarded situations. One thing that pisses me off is that the movie is so gay, yet the filmmakers didn't have the balls to develope the gay relationship that only partly exsists, as do all the other relationships.

Take for instance, the relationship between Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan. It is told to us that 20 years ago, they were in love, but he got married. He got a divorce, sees Donna again for the first time in 20 years, and asks her to marry him.

Call me crazy, but something about that seems phony. He never know why the bride and groom are so in love, not one moment of film is spend in developing these relationships and expanding on them. The characters don't grow, the characters don't change, regardless of choices they make that are unordinary for them.

For some random reason, the two love birds call of the wedding and, yet celebrate their love for one another by not doing so. The ending to the film is so annoying. There are literally 6 songs that they sing one right after the other.

I wanted to scream, "SHUT UP!" at the screen. The songs are literally there for NO REASON! None! No reason at all. They don't give character insight, they don't forward the plot, they don't provide an underscore for the themes and stories and relationships of which there is no emotional connection or willingness to explore.

One thing that kills me is the staging of the film. At one point, Meryl Streep is pouring out her soul through the song, "Winner Takes it All" and the camera literally turns around her for five minutes straight.

Most of the actors deserve better than this. Some actors are in the right place. (Hearing Pierce Brosnan sing "SoS" is painful), but one thing that a film goer deserves is a better film than this.

Don't waste your time. Don't waste your money. Don't try to tell me that the movie is good because it's bad, because it's not. It's bad because it's bad. Period.