Mamma Mia! (2008 movie) Review

I went to see Mamma Mia today with one of my favorite non-chicks - my teenage son. He is a good sport, and I took him out to eat Mexcican and to the hardware store. So, it was me, the kid, and the white haired ladies. Seems Monday is senior day at our local cinemas.My son figured that part out.

Mamma Mia is kind of the sequel to Grease. OK. Not exactly. But, it's a musical and fun. Instead of a teen musical like Grease when I was young, this is more of a forty-something musical but with a teen player as well.

Donna is planning for her daughter's wedding, and Sophie (the daughter) decides to invite her fathers. Yes. There are three possible as she discovers in her Mom's old diary. Sophie invites them all and figures that she will KNOW which one is her father once she meets them. She has clearly not listened to that new rap song, "That Baby Don't Look Like Me." She also does not tell her Mom about this interesting plan.

A couple of Donna's old buddies show up. There's the frufru buddy and the brainy one. They have some hilarious girl moments throughout the movie.

The men do show up. They don't know that Donna does not know they are coming. They don't know they are possible fathers - to start with. They're just good guys with good memories of Donna. They, of course, slowly catch on. But, the lightbulbs are not always blinking on full power.

Throughout the movie, you'll hear ABBA songs. They were kind of a cheesy band from the 70s. You remember - the disco era. They are catchy tunes and work well in the film.

The acting is solid other than Sam who is played by Pierce Brosnan. He does not lip sync well at all, and he also did not make a good leading man. I did not believe him as Donna's first love. He was stiff and just didn't fit the part. He was like Ken doll in the Barbie collection. Pretty to look at - but not much fun. GI Joes were much better with more moving parts and some personaltiy to their looks.

I wouldn't call this a great movie, but I enjoyed it. There were times I wanted to throw my hands in the hair and dance in the movie theater isles. I also learned that I probably have Catholic guilt. But, I'm not Catholic. Go figure. There were a number of times they really did capture women in my age group. They also, however, had a pretty strong "prince come save me" theme running in the movie.

My son didn't care much for the film, but he did like seeing Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) and probably espcially in her swimming suit. Brownie points for him for humoring his Momma and going to a chick flick. He did say he guessed he'd have to see some movies like that on dates. I told him that would most definately get him more dates.