Mamma Mia!

In 2007 there was Across the Universe, which used Beatles songs to convey the heartbreak, confusion and ambition of the tumultuous ‘60s. Nothing as grand about Mamma Mia!, though: it just lays all its love on you, and there you go again. My, my how can we resist this?

It’s the story of a bride-to-be trying to find her father on the eve of her wedding, set against the backdrop of an idyllic Greek island, and using hit songs by ABBA. The film uses a screenplay that has already proved successful in a musical by the same name. And from the high points to the low, Mamma Mia! doesn’t strike a wrong note.

The hotel that Streep’s Donna runs may be out of a Hallmark romantic card, her daughter just rightly tanned, her future son-in-law a veritable Adonis, and the story unabashedly contrived, but everything is forgotten and forgiven as the music rolls and washes over you. The best example perhaps is Dancing Queen, which has the whole island tapping. And isn’t it nice that the lead actors are all of the age that ABBA group members would be now? Music has no age, and here is a perfect example.

There have been complaints about girls in the film having just too much fun but, hey, it’s two days in a lifetime of raising a kid alone! And on the eve of a wedding! Give them a break.

Leading from the front in this joyride is Streep, as the former wild pop star who is now owner of a rundown hotel, and afraid of what her daughter will think if she finds out that her mother doesn’t know her real father. Brosnan as Sam, Firth as Harry and Skarsgard as Bill — who could all be the prospective fathers — are also charming as three men chastised in middle-age.

However, the person who really charms your heart is Julie Walters as Streep’s friend Rosie, another former wild musician turned dotty writer. She knows her mind, and speaks it too. Not for nothing does she get the song Take a chance on me. In the end, that’s what Mamma Mia! is about.

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