Momma Mia

Okay look, I'm on vacation at my parents, I'm sick, and Mark Kermode (whose podcast I highly recommend) said it had to be seen. After watching it I don't know that I would go so far as to say you 'have' to see it, but I can also understand why the film was so popular. I'm not even going to bother explaining the plot or characters, both are flimsy at best, and solely exist to get you from one song to another. If you like the songs (which apparently many people do), then the film delivers them in a mostly satisfactory (Except for Pierce Brosnan) manner. The film also looks good, and does have a certain manic energy to it that I could see becoming infectious. It's not what I would consider it a good film, but really how much depth did many of the so called classic musicals from the 40's and 50's have? Take this from a guy who played in the pit orchestra for several Rogers & Sondheim/Hammerstein/Hart productions - they didn't. As to recommending seeing this - its tough to say. If you like ABBA and old musicals then you'll be entertained, if you don't you'll want to slit your wrists vertically. Personally, I do respect that the film does exactly what it sets out to do (set some jaunty musical numbers to ABBA songs), and there is something perversely entertaining in watching big hollywood stars doing what is essentially drunken karaoke (Kermode's description) for 2 hours, but I really don't think I'll ever go out of my way to see it again.