Momma Mia! is a Shakespearean Good Time
Pamela Scott Shelton
August 06, 2008
In the same way that Shakespearean audiences must have been entertained by a Midsummer´s Night Dream, director Phyllida Lloyd´s Momma Mia! (2008), is fun and delightful, featuring applause winning performances by Meryl Streep, as Donna; Christine Baranski, as Tanya; Julia Walters, as Rosie; and Amanda Seyfried, as Donna's daughter, Sophie. It is the best movie going experience I have had in a long time. Lloyd apparently decided that it´s not just time to have a good time making a film, but time, too, for the audience to have a great time watching it. The director was completely in touch with what this film's audience wanted, and knew how to involve the audience in the film.
Streep, as Donna, is wonderful, looks beautiful, and performs amzingly in a role that is new, fun, and moves at a pace that shows Streep is an eternal energy. She is complimented by the scene stealing performances of Baranski, whose Tanya is forever young; and Walters´ Rosie, who is both surprising and heart warming. Amanda Seyfried, talented and no doubt wtih a bright and scucessful future ahead of her, is only slightly immature as an actress, and it would probably go unnoticed but for her closeness to the more experienced and gifted talents of Streep, Baranski and Walters. The three were comfortable in their performances, and especially in the good time that they were having. Some actors go on PR junkets to promote their films, and we hear them talk about the good time they had making the film. Rarely does that good time pull the audience into the fun going on the way Mamma Mia! does. In the theatre there was laughter, and occasional claps of delight as something about one or another of the women´s scenes struck a chord with someone watching. There was an energy that transferred from the screen to the audience, and it was an electrically charged theatre audience.
Of course, that charge was in no small way ignited by the screen presence of Pierce Brosnan, as Sam Carmichael; Colin Firth, as Harry Bright; and the Nordic heart throb, Stellan Skarsgard, as Bill Anderson. Brosnan announced his transition from the hot young leading man to the incredibly handsome, and sophisticated mature and confident older leading man in his 2005 film Matador. In Momma Mia! he is exploiting that maturity, that audience, and showing his more vulnerable and romantic side that perhaps would not have served Bond so well, but works fabulously in this film. There were audible sighs heard in the theatre as each of the leading men showed their romantic sides; mature, sophisticated, handsome, and, in Skarsgard´s case, his still beautiful and buff bare buttocks, side. Each man contributed something so individually and romantically essential to the film that without each one's contribution, the end result would have been like a family recipe handed down without "the" most important ingredient. Loud sighs, and a lot of "oooohhhhhs," could be heard at those special moments in the film. Lloyd made sure there were plenty of moments between the audience and each heart throb to carry the film. Pure delight!
Combine these three handsome and romantic men with the beauty, grace, and energy of Streep, Baranski, and Walters and the recipe is gourmet entertainment. A fast paced, happy film that has a little something for everyone – especially when the beautiful and young Sophie watches her lover from a Greek landscape. Her lover, the gorgeous young Dominic Cooper as Skye, performs with a group of "Chippendale" style dancers on a dock extending out into the waters off the coast of Greece. The performance is a choreographed masterpiece. It is so hot you can practically hear the sizzle. No one will leave this film without a smile on their face.
This film is worth the price of the ticket, a soda, and a large box of popcorn! Remember it; you´ll want to add it to your personal DVD collection. It´s a good time to be revisited time and again.
Streep, as Donna, is wonderful, looks beautiful, and performs amzingly in a role that is new, fun, and moves at a pace that shows Streep is an eternal energy. She is complimented by the scene stealing performances of Baranski, whose Tanya is forever young; and Walters´ Rosie, who is both surprising and heart warming. Amanda Seyfried, talented and no doubt wtih a bright and scucessful future ahead of her, is only slightly immature as an actress, and it would probably go unnoticed but for her closeness to the more experienced and gifted talents of Streep, Baranski and Walters. The three were comfortable in their performances, and especially in the good time that they were having. Some actors go on PR junkets to promote their films, and we hear them talk about the good time they had making the film. Rarely does that good time pull the audience into the fun going on the way Mamma Mia! does. In the theatre there was laughter, and occasional claps of delight as something about one or another of the women´s scenes struck a chord with someone watching. There was an energy that transferred from the screen to the audience, and it was an electrically charged theatre audience.
Of course, that charge was in no small way ignited by the screen presence of Pierce Brosnan, as Sam Carmichael; Colin Firth, as Harry Bright; and the Nordic heart throb, Stellan Skarsgard, as Bill Anderson. Brosnan announced his transition from the hot young leading man to the incredibly handsome, and sophisticated mature and confident older leading man in his 2005 film Matador. In Momma Mia! he is exploiting that maturity, that audience, and showing his more vulnerable and romantic side that perhaps would not have served Bond so well, but works fabulously in this film. There were audible sighs heard in the theatre as each of the leading men showed their romantic sides; mature, sophisticated, handsome, and, in Skarsgard´s case, his still beautiful and buff bare buttocks, side. Each man contributed something so individually and romantically essential to the film that without each one's contribution, the end result would have been like a family recipe handed down without "the" most important ingredient. Loud sighs, and a lot of "oooohhhhhs," could be heard at those special moments in the film. Lloyd made sure there were plenty of moments between the audience and each heart throb to carry the film. Pure delight!
Combine these three handsome and romantic men with the beauty, grace, and energy of Streep, Baranski, and Walters and the recipe is gourmet entertainment. A fast paced, happy film that has a little something for everyone – especially when the beautiful and young Sophie watches her lover from a Greek landscape. Her lover, the gorgeous young Dominic Cooper as Skye, performs with a group of "Chippendale" style dancers on a dock extending out into the waters off the coast of Greece. The performance is a choreographed masterpiece. It is so hot you can practically hear the sizzle. No one will leave this film without a smile on their face.
This film is worth the price of the ticket, a soda, and a large box of popcorn! Remember it; you´ll want to add it to your personal DVD collection. It´s a good time to be revisited time and again.
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