Mamma Mia!

Here I go again...Sorry, the songs are too catchy. The movie based on the Broadway musical based on the music of ABBA came out today. If I had to give a brief summary, I'd say, "Nonsense. Pure nonsense."

Okay, there is a plot. Sophie grew up on a Greek island with her free-spirited mother, Donna (Meryl Streep) but never knew her dad. As she plans to get married, she finds her mothers diary and learns about three men Donna loved, kissed, and "..." (That's how they wrote it back then), so she invites all three. Hilarity ensues during awkward reunions and when each man realizes he could be Sophie's father.

But the plot doesn't matter. It's all about the music. Even Pierce Brosnan sings. He has a rougher quality to his voice, but he gets it done. The cast looks like they enjoy themselves the entire time.

Now I should return to why I called this movie nonsense. The choreography. Witty at times to match the lyrics, it also bordered on outrageous. The entire theater laughed together at the ridiculous actions. Too crazy to describe, you'd have to see it for yourself.

About the viewers, I imagine it was very similar to the crowd that went to "Sex and the City" (i.e. lots of women and guys drug there by their women). I went solo--not the target audience. It was part of my plan. "The Dark Knight" was also released today (in case you hadn't heard), and I wanted to watch it on Imax. Although I had driven by the St. Michael Cinemagic Metropolitan many times on I-94, I had never been inside. As I suspected, the Imax showing of "The Dark Knight" at 7 pm (and 10 pm) was sold out, so I went with my second choice of "Mamma Mia!" at 7:30 pm. I wandered the halls for a bit to scope out the theater before grabbing at seat in the lounge near the bar on the second level. Yes, you read that right. There is a full-service bar in the movie theater. That means they serve wine. While I sat there using the free Wi-Fi with my Pocket PC, I listened to four woman chatting. They were mid-30s to 40 but sounded like college bar girls except they talked about their kids. (One took her son to the doctor. She wanted to be in the room for a minute at the beginning to get him settled. Then the doctor started asking him questions, "Do you have a girlfriend?" "Do you drink alcohol?" "Do you feel pressure from your friends?" Mom's reaction: "I'm leaving now." [Read: I don't want to embarrass my son.] Then the son was upset because they gave him immunization shots and he'll have to go back in six months for another Hepatitis shot.) During the movie, these four (and a fifth who joined them, one's daughter by my guess, who nearly missed the show time by driving over instead of onto I-94 in Rogers and turning after the wrong cornfield) were pretty quiet, which is more than I can say for other gaggles of women. There were definitely ABBA fans who got a kick out of every song incorporated into the film. And others clapped along to the music.

One other comment about the theater. They have powerful sound systems. That didn't matter much for "Mamma Mia!" but "The Dark Knight" was showing on the adjacent screen and we could hear the action. It also rumbled the walls when I sat in the lounge.

Do I recommend the movie? I don't know. For the target audience, it would be perfect. Or if you want to spend two hours looking at Amanda Seyfried.