or you could be fabulous like michael and i and go all the way....

i've got a date to see this one. how appropriately queertastic.

A-

The most fun i've had in the theater in years. Completely over the top romp with some great performances, a fabulous story, beautiful cinematography, and above all, a feel good factor that can't be beaten. I saw characters here i know in reality, and some i could never dream up because they are so ridiculous.

A top 30 movie and overall one of the most fun experiences ever.

I thought hairspray was REALLY mediocre.
Mamma Mia is in a league of its own.
Better than Chicago and the best musical since Moulin Rouge! Easily.

My 2nd favourite musical ever behind MR! and just ahead of Grease.

Thats a pretty fair assessment I think.

B+. It's really all over the place. It's messy. It's not even close to choregraphed, but its.so.much.fun. It's no Hairspray, for me, or Chicago but it's really enjoyable. Streep has a lot of fun, maybe a bit to much with the over reaching arms but she's amazing as always, and that voice, can't get enough. Amanda Seyfried really does a 360 from her role in Mean Girls and is ever so charming in here. The songs are well done, it just went on a bit to much for me with the 4 endings every 2 minutes. The credits are cute.

Wild fun. I adored it - but really, did anyone *not* see that coming? I don't think I've had such a good time with friends at the theatre in a very, very long time. The integration of the songs was often hillllarious. Take on Me, as a prime example.

***.5

I voted a B. I think if i had a less critical eye I would of gone for an A. I think they made the best Mamma Mia movie with what they had to work with. Most of the criticisms of the film are inherited from the stage show (thin plot, shoehorned songs). I do think this movie has much better replay value, even over films which I would probably rate higher. I would rate Hairspray the same as Mamma Mia. Certain aspects of Hairspray were better and it did have better foundations to work with. I find it hard to compare the two as they are so different.

To be honest i think this movie felt a lot more natural and enjoyable that anything in that list bar Moulin Rouge! which was a masterwork. Chicago felt like a star vehicle from Hollywood, Once, whilst great, was too close to home, and Sweeney Todd was overhyped and underperforming in my eyes.

In Mamma Mia! there were characters i recognized (Julie Walters) as real people I know. This made the world of difference. Nowhere in any recent musical can I say i looked and said "Wow, Nicole Kidmans character is exactly the same as this girl I know im my own life".

Placing it aside it's nearest comparable counterpart in tone - Mamma Mia! outperfs Hairspray throughout. Hairspray truly was a mess, characters literally rushing around, not taking a moment to pause and singing every 30 seconds without development or style. It didnt make me laugh when they sung, and John Travolta had me feeling awkward throughout.


Mamma Mia! essentially is a very good humoured "romp" and for me, i'm always glad to have that once in a while because i get really tired of seeing pretentious arthouse movies and even more pretentious blockbusters these days. Here is a movie that doesn't care that it's camp and shows the audience exactly what they are getting, then goes a little further up the ladder on the promise. In this regard its comparable to Charlies Angels 2 for me - so much fun and shamelessly without pretense.

Yes i think that at times it feels a bit messy, particularly in the first twenty minutes, but because it's not perfectly staged in a conceited set-up is what makes it different and more enjoyable.

I did think, my one main criticism was, that she didnt seem to know what made a good shot a great one.

But the cinematography at the beginning and end made the movie great.

I'm planning on seeing it tomorrow. Really looking forward to it. Looks like a blast!

I was fine with Pierce not being a good singer - he was suppose to be a regular guy and not a singer.

and of all the musicals, boy this was the biggest chick flick of them all.

overall it was good, but as I didn't know most of the songs, it was hard to judge. but I probably will see again to see if I like the songs better.

also put Meryl in for an Oscar nom - what the hell. And I would think that based on her popularity and this over the top role, she might just get in.

Freaking loved every second of it. Mind you, I've been a fan of ABBA since I was in my tweens. There were some odd moments, some funny ones, some very touching ones as well - they all worked for me. I did have to remind my self that maybe the voices weren't supposed to be great becaue they were regular people; that would be my only qualm.

Loved the Mamma Mia!, Dancing Queen, Lay All Your Love on Me, Does Your Mother Know, Sliiping Through My Fingers, and The Winner Takes It All sequences; they were superb!

Can't wait to see it again. Great weekend at the movies this week!

A-

the movies have been awesome this summer and this is a serious highlight.

A four-alarm disaster, but a somewhat endearing one. Fucking ABBA.

The "craft" here, as it were, is beyond inept. I laughed the hardest I have in a theatre all year through the duration of the Amanda Seyfried-confronts-the-dads scene thanks to the truly crazy handheld camera work.

Static medium shot. CRAZY HANDHELD SHOT THATS KINDA POV BUT NOT REALLY. Static Medium shot. JERKY HANDHELD SHOT THATS ANGLED LIKE A POV FOR SOME REASON BUT AGAIN REALLY ISNT. Medium shot. And so on.

Then there's the so-called choreography. At least the camera work is too incompetent to catch most of it.

By the end, this brazen display of amateurishness almost seemed charming.

It's kind of a mess when it comes to direction, but overall I enjoyed this one. It's nowhere near as good as last year's Hairspray, but it makes no qualms about its intentions - to leave you with a smile on your face and a song in your heart. I don't think I was fully expecting that this would be as campy as it ended up being, but once I got used to it and started taking things a little less seriously I had a lot of fun. Amanda Seyfried really steals the show here - she's adorable and has a great singing voice, and it should be a breakthrough project for her. Pierce Brosnan is the only major weak link in the cast - his singing voice is quite honestly terrible and every time he bursts into song it feels so false and almost goofy in a sense. As mentioned before, the direction is kind of amateurish and there are some questionable decisions made in terms of lighting and framing. The choreography is also questionable, but I felt it added a bit to the film's charm. Overall, this definitely isn't a perfect film and won't win any awards, but for a feel-good fun summer flick it definitely manages to succeed. B/B+

I'm now seeing it Friday night .

Mamma Mia! is a decidedly campy, chaotic mess, but in a good way. The whole film is extremely enjoyable, even if it makes Hairspray look like War and Peace in comparison. The casting is pretty good all around, with Meryl easily taking front and center and Amanda Seyfried displaying an appealing perkiness. All of the other actors are fine, although like others have said, Pierce Brosnan's vocal abilities are a little questionable. Just don't think about it and have fun. B+

My sense is that anyone who thinks Meryl Streep was anything but abysmal here is fooling themselves and/or blinded by her general shininess. Only Amanda Seyfried doesn't embarrass herself.

It looked to me like she was having a lot of fun? It came through in her performance. Not every performance she gives has to be worthy of an Oscar.

Oh, she was definitely having fun. But it didn't make her performance any less humiliating or Vanessa-Hudgens-in-High-School-Musical infantile. Her line readings sounded like they were coming from a 14-year old girl.

She seemed entirely uncertain of what she was doing, and you don't normally see that from Miss Meryl.

You got them all confused Yos its the other way around.

Gulli, I can only assume you were the old fat lady two rows behind me who thought every pratfall and double take was shit-your-Depends funny.

Sorry I didn't say hello!

Oddly enough nobody was sitting in front of me when i saw it which leads me to deduce that you are a dirty liar that never even saw the film!! BKBish behaviour Yos for shame