Strangely moving, moving strangely
MAMMA MIA Director: Phyllida Lloyd Cert. PG
The first ten minutes of this film might leave a viewer wondering why he/she bought a ticket. It is girls screaming and hugging and emoting and engaging in vulgar innuendo and then women, old enough to know better, doing the same.
Then the music starts and you realise that plot, characterisation and dialogue have no significance whatsoever here. It is all about the music and the dancing. Someone has concocted a ridiculous story by stringing together a series of favourites from the Abba back catalogue. Then a star-studded cast are brought on to sing and strut and have a lot of fun on a Greek island.
Meryl Streep pours her heart and soul and arms and legs into every line, extracting profundity from inanity to great effect. Julie Walters sends the whole thing up, singing ‘Chiquitita’ under a toilet door. The men are even funnier. Colin Firth has the grace to look embarrassed. Pierce Brosnan’s vocal rendering of ‘SOS’ had the whole cinema in peals of laughter. Cheesy? Certainly. Tacky? Probably. Endearing and enjoyable? Most definitely.
